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Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy

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Title: Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy

Author: T. M. Harris


        
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[Illustration: T. M. Harris]


ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN

A History of the Great Conspiracy

Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission
and a Review of the Trial of John H. Surratt

by

T. M. HARRIS

Late Brigadier-General U. S. V. and Major-General By Brevet

A Member of the Commission







Boston, Mass.
American Citizen Company
7 Bromfield Street

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892,
By T. M. HARRIS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

All Rights Reserved.

Typography by Fish & Sancton, 198 Washington St., Boston.




EXPLANATION.


It is perhaps necessary that the author should explain the sense in
which the term, "Great Conspiracy," in the title of his book, is used.
It is not at all in the same sense in which it is used by General
Logan in his book. In that it is used as the equivalent of the Great
Rebellion, only that it broadly covers all that led to and culminated
in the war against the government, designated as "The Rebellion." It is
only here used to designate the conspiracy that resorted to the policy
of assassination as a means to give aid to the rebellion; and the
reader who follows the author through will then be able to perceive why
he designates this a "Great Conspiracy."




PREFACE.


It is now more than twenty-seven years since the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,--an event of the
greatest importance at the time, not only to the people of the United
States, but to the civilized world. The trial of the conspirators by
a military commission created the greatest possible interest; and the
proceedings and testimony were published from day to day by all of the
great newspapers of the country, and read with avidity. The judgment of
those who carefully studied the testimony at the time was formed upon a
competent knowledge of the facts.

And yet, even then, the fate of the prisoners on trial before the
Commission, to be found innocent or guilty according to the evidence,
constituted the great point of interest, and thus tended to divert
attention from the evidence against the other parties charged not only
with being co-conspirators, but as being the instigators of the plot.

Since that time a new generation has come on to the stage of action,
and as the official report of the trial by Ben Pittman, published at
the time, is in the hands of but comparatively few people, a concise
history of this great event, in popular form, but founded on the
evidence, seemed to the writer to be due and called for at the present
time.

The necessity for this has been emphasized by a recent revival of
efforts that have been made from time to time, ever since the
execution of the assassins that were condemned to death, to prejudice
public sentiment against the government by the assumption of the
innocence of one of the parties executed--Mrs. Surratt.

Only a few months since (May 30, 1891), La Salle Institute in New York
City was crowded by an audience that came together expecting to hear
Cardinal Gibbons and Father Walter review the case of Mrs. Surratt.
Neither the cardinal nor the father appeared, but a Mr. Sloane arose
and read to the audience a letter from Father Walter on the subject.
This letter contained nothing new to those who were familiar with the
case at the time of its occurrence. It was substantially the same that
was published over his signature shortly after her execution. After
stating that he was her confessor, and that his priestly vows did not
permit him to reveal the secrets of the confessional, he very calmly
and positively states his belief in her entire innocence, basing that
belief on what he professes to know. He then relates the efforts he
made to get a reprieve and a postponement of her execution for a few
days, and expresses the belief that could he have succeeded in this for
only ten days he could have saved her life.

He then complains of the manner in which he was treated by the
President, Andrew Johnson, and Judge Holt, who referred him back and
forth, each to the other, and that between them he could get nothing
accomplished.

A story has also been gotten up of a Union soldier who was a member of
the conspiracy and knew all of its members and secrets, who affirms
the innocence of Mrs. Surratt. The most rational and, at the same
time, charitable thing to be said about this story is, that this Union
soldier was manufactured for the occasion.

That portion of the press of to-day that inherits the old copper-head
animus, greedily publishes all such things as these, and indulges in
the wildest latitude of editorial comment and false statements. They
have buried all of the members of the Commission but one many times;
have followed all of the principal actors in the scene to violent and
miserable deaths; and have made it manifest that had the Almighty Ruler
of the Universe viewed the matter in their light, and been as swift in
his retributions as they would have had him to be, not one who had any
connection with the arrest, trial, and execution of the assassins of
the great and good President would have been left alive.

They have manifested an especial venom of feeling against the then
Secretary of War, Hon. E. M. Stanton, iterating and reiterating the
absurd and false statement that he died from the violence of his own
hand, being crazed with remorse. Why they should thus select Mr.
Stanton as the especial object of their hatred cannot be seen from
any connection he had with this case. His part, though important and
involving great responsibility, was, in fact, a very subordinate
one. He selected the officers to be embraced in the order of detail
for the Commission, under the order of the President, that was all.
Judge Holt conducted the trial and recorded the proceedings under the
President's order, and when he handed that record over to the President
his connection with the case ended. President Johnson then held the
temporal destiny of this woman, as well as that of all the others
convicted, in his own hand. He and he alone was responsible.

From all this it appears that the time has come when a clear, concise
history of this conspiracy and trial should be given to the world. To
this task the writer has addressed himself, and he offers this volume
as the result of his labors. The facts herein narrated in regard to
the assassination, as well as to the parts enacted by each of the
individual members of the conspiracy, are drawn from the testimony
before the Commission. They have been thrown into the form of a
connected narrative, and there has been nothing stated as a fact but
what is fully sustained by the evidence which formed the basis of
the decisions of the Commission. Nothing has been admitted into this
narrative but what rests on the specific testimony of unimpeachable
witnesses. The author only deems it necessary that the opinion, or
belief, of Father Walter, and all others of his persuasion, shall be
confronted by the testimony in the case, in order that an intelligent
judgment shall be reached. At the time of this trial there were just
two classes of people in this country--the friends and the enemies of
the government. The former were united and determined in their purpose
and effort to preserve and perpetuate the government established
by our fathers under the constitution that included in its purpose
and provisions the union of the states and made us a nation. The
latter were madly bent on its overthrow, and so judged favorably or
unfavorably of the occurrences of the times, as they tended to favor
or hinder the accomplishment of their purposes. The feelings of both
parties had been wrought up to the highest pitch of intensity because
the matters at issue had been submitted to the arbitrament of the
sword. The result of this appeal was clearly foreshadowed at the time
of the assassination of the President, and before the conclusion of
the trial of his murderers the cause of the Confederacy had collapsed.
The rebellion was virtually overcome. The deep political scheme to
give it a new lease of life and bring to its aid new elements of
success by the assassinations that had been planned, had been too
long delayed, and its execution had become utterly impracticable. The
soldiers of the rebellion had fought their fight--a brave and plucky
and protracted fight. They realized the hopelessness of their cause
and, though greatly disappointed and mortified at their failure, they
had the consciousness that they had done all that brave men could do
to win success, and so were ready to accept the result, return to their
homes, and resume citizenship under the government they were unable to
overthrow. Not so with the secret active enemies of the government.
They were not willing to accept defeat, but were, nevertheless (happily
for the country), in a condition that they could only show their
enmity by maligning and villifying the authorities they were unable
to overthrow; and of this privilege they fully availed themselves.
Thus it has come to pass that the magnitude, scope, and purpose of
the assassination conspiracy are unknown to the present generation.
All that a large majority of those who have come upon the stage of
action since that time know of this, in many respects, one of the most
important trials that has ever occurred in our history, is what they
have learned through the efforts of these vituperators; and they have
never seen it referred to other than as the trial of Mrs. Surratt.
The Commission was not called upon to render a decision as to the
innocence or guilt of the persons charged by the government with being
co-conspirators with John H. Surratt and John Wilkes Booth, who were
not in the custody of the government and so not before the Commission;
but the government, having assumed the responsibility of charging
Jefferson Davis, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson,
William C. Cleary, Clement C. Clay, George Harper, George Young, and
others, with thus conspiring to kill and murder Abraham Lincoln, Andrew
Johnson, Wm. H. Seward, and Ulysses S. Grant, was under the necessity
of vindicating its honor and dignity before the world by presenting
the evidence in its possession on which its charge was founded. It
will be my purpose to present this evidence, and to show the full
significance and purpose of the plot, and with whom it originated.
Many of the prominent actors in this tragedy have been summoned before
a higher tribunal to answer for the deeds done in the body. There we
are content to leave them, assured that "all things are naked and open
to the eyes of Him with whom they have to do," and that there will be
no mistakes made in the decisions there rendered. And toward those who
yet remain, it is with no feelings of personal enmity that the author
shall write. He only knows them as they are revealed in the testimony,
and by this he shall endeavor to deal fairly and candidly. They made
themselves conspicuous in their connection with public affairs of
the greatest importance, and so their acts belong to the public. If
they have made a bad record, it is due to the truth of history that
their acts shall be fully unfolded. History is a truthful narration
of events that have occurred; and its conclusions must be based on a
consideration of all of the facts, taken in their proper order and
relation to the events. The aim of the writer has been to give a candid
and reliable history of the Great Conspiracy as deduced from the
evidence before the Commission and to be found in the official report
of the proceedings published by Ben Pittman immediately after the trial.

The asperities of the great conflict have been largely obliterated by
the many happy years of peace that have intervened since that unhappy
period. We have but one country and one flag, which almost all have
learned to love as of old. Let us draw wisdom and virtue from the
history of the past, learning as well from our errors and mistakes as
from our virtues, that we may, by a course of well-doing, gain the
favor of Him who holds the destiny of nations in His hands, and who
pulls down one and sets another up.

The stability of a popular government must rest on the virtue and
intelligence of its people. Our institutions were established on this
basis alone, and on this alone can they stand. The divorcement of
Church and State by the framers of our constitution was one of the
wise conclusions which they drew from the past; but it was no part of
their purpose to divorce religion from the State. On the contrary,
their politics was a part of their religion and was deduced from the
teachings of God's word. Let us beware of the effort of the present
time to divorce politics from religion because we rightly divorce the
Church from the State.

There is no morality that can make a man a valuable and a reliable
citizen of a free state except the morality of the Christian religion
as taught in God's word. It is the duty, therefore, of every parent and
every teacher to instill into the minds of our youth this Christian
morality as a basis for the highest patriotism and noblest citizenship.
Let the American flag float over every school-house, and the morality
of the Bible be taught with the authority inherent in God's word. Then
will the days of assassinations, whether political or religious, come
to an end. Owing to a variety of causes, the facts connected with this
most important event in our nation's history have been slurred over
and obscured. Scarcely one in a thousand of our people to-day have any
knowledge of their existence.

The object of the writer will be to revive them and bring them out
clearly to the knowledge of all.

        T. M. HARRIS.

    RITCHIE C. H., W. Va.




CONTENTS.


  EXPLANATION                                                     3

  PREFACE                                                         5

  CONTENTS                                                       13


  CHAPTER I.

  INTRODUCTORY                                                   17


  CHAPTER II.

  PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE PLOT                     24


  CHAPTER III.

  ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT AND ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION
      OF SECRETARY SEWARD                                        34


  CHAPTER IV.

  THE NEWS COMMUNICATED TO THE WORLD, AND ITS EFFECT             47


  CHAPTER V.

  UNRAVELLING THE PLOT--PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF BOOTH AND
      HEROLD--DEATH OF BOOTH                                     51


  CHAPTER VI.

  UNRAVELLING THE CONSPIRACY--ARREST OF SPANGLER, O'LAUGHLIN,
      ATZERODT, MUDD, AND ARNOLD                                 60


  CHAPTER VII.

  QUESTIONS PRELIMINARY TO THE TRIAL--WHAT SORT OF TRIAL
      SHOULD BE GIVEN, CIVIL OR MILITARY                         82


  CHAPTER VIII.

  A MILITARY COMMISSION--ITS NATURE, CONSTITUTION, DUTIES,
      AND JURISDICTION                                           96


  CHAPTER IX.

  CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMISSION, AND TRIAL                      98


  CHAPTER X.

  EVIDENCE IN REGARD TO ATROCITIES NOT EMBRACED IN THE CHARGE
      AND SPECIFICATIONS, FOR WHICH DAVIS AND HIS CANADA
      CABINET WERE RESPONSIBLE                                  118


  CHAPTER XI.

  EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO SUSTAIN ITS CHARGE
      AND SPECIFICATIONS                                        147


  CHAPTER XII.

  THE GOVERNMENT WITNESSES AGAINST DAVIS AND HIS ASSOCIATES
      IN THIS CRIME                                             163


  CHAPTER XIII.

  A CRITICISM OF NICOLAY AND HAY                                177


  CHAPTER XIV.

  JACOB THOMPSON'S BANK ACCOUNT--WHAT BECAME OF THE MONEY       182


  CHAPTER XV.

  THE CASE OF MRS. SURRATT                                      192


  CHAPTER XVI.

  FATHER WALTER                                                 204


  CHAPTER XVII.

  CONCLUSION                                                    211


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF JOHN H. SURRATT                         212


  PART II.


  CHAPTER I.

  INDICTMENT AND TRIAL                                          229


  CHAPTER II.

  A CRITICISM OF THE DEFENSE                                    253


  CHAPTER III.

  TREATMENT OF WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE BY THE COUNSEL FOR
      THE DEFENSE, AND THEIR ANIMUS TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT
      AND APPEALS TO THE POLITICAL PREJUDICES OF JURORS         259


  APPENDIX                                                      317

  PREFACE TO APPENDIX                                           319

  ARGUMENT OF JOHN A. BINGHAM                                   325

  CONTROVERSY BETWEEN PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND JUDGE HOLT          407




PART I.

ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN.

[Illustration: A. Lincoln ]




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.


The rebellion of the slave-holding states, and the attempt to establish
a separate government by force of arms, was solely in the interest
of the institution of slavery. The Southern Confederacy was to rest
on this institution as its corner-stone. By the establishment of the
Confederacy it was intended to end, forever, the agitation of this
question, and establish the system of human slavery as one of the
permanent institutions of the world. And all this in the nineteenth
century of the Christian era! Preparatory to this the pulpit and the
press had been suborned, the Christian conscience of the country had
been debauched, and the doctrine that slavery was a Divine institution
was taught, and accepted as true, by one-half of the American people.

A doctor of divinity, or even a common preacher, who could prove this
to his own satisfaction, and that of his hearers, at once achieved
popularity, and had his great learning and ability heralded by the
secular press throughout the South land. Neither was this kind of
preaching confined to the South. It found a distinct and earnest echo
in many places in the North. It was argued, and no doubt sincerely
believed, that slavery was the best condition for securing the
happiness and welfare of the African race--the condition in which
the negro could be most useful to the world; that his condition had
been greatly improved by his transplantation from a heathen land and
the environments of barbarism to a Christian land and civilized and
Christian environments; and that subjection to a higher and superior
race was necessary to his deriving the highest benefit from the change.
Slavery, it was taught, was a patriarchal institution, and that it was
only through it that the highest ideal of human civilization could be
attained. It was natural that a people whose judgment had crystalized
around such opinions as these should be intolerant of opposition, as
they had closed the door to discussion on this question; and so for
several generations a contrary opinion was not tolerated, or allowed
to find expression, in the slave-holding states. The agitation of this
question, in its moral aspects, by constantly increasing numbers of
earnest, able men in the North, at last led to the organization of
a political party opposed to this institution, and the question of
slavery thus became a political question.

The friends of the institution instinctively recognized the danger that
thus confronted them, and began to strengthen their fences by most
stringent measures to repress discussion and shut out the light. This
was a tacit admission that they felt themselves unable to stand before
the world in argument. It may be laid down as an axiom, that whenever
a political party forecloses discussion on any subject, but more
especially on a great moral issue, it is not only on the wrong side of
that issue, but has an intuitive perception of that fact.

It may also be accepted as an axiom, that the more inconsistent a man's
attitude is on any great moral question the more intolerant will he be
of opposition. Not only were the most stringent laws passed to prevent
the discussion of the institution of slavery in its moral aspects in
the Southern States, but also the most lawless and violent measures
were resorted to, so that it was as much as a man's life was worth to
undertake to make a public argument against slavery in a slave-holding
state, and even to be found earnestly opposed to the institution in
sentiment was to put personal safety in jeopardy. The making of this
question a political question tended largely to de-sectionalize it. No
party could hope to succeed, as a National party, without the vote of
the South, and this could only be secured by concessions to the demands
of the slave holders in the interest of that institution; and so the
party that was willing to concede the most to their demands became the
dominant party in the nation. Thus the leading Democratic politicians,
all over the North, became the staunch advocates of slavery; and we
all know with what blind confidence, and fierce determination, the
masses follow their political leaders. The culmination of the contest
over this question, resulting in the election of Abraham Lincoln
to the Presidency by a party openly opposed to slavery, caused its
friends to take their appeal from the ballot box to the sword; and
this appeal found those who were the friends of the institution from
political party considerations scattered all over the North in quite
formidable numbers, constituting an enemy in the rear of our armies
that gave to the administration of President Lincoln no little anxiety
and embarrassment, making it necessary for him, as early as September,
1862, to proclaim martial law and suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_
in respect to all persons in the United States who were found to be
actively disloyal, and engaged in efforts to aid the rebellion. The
following is a copy of his proclamation:--

    GENERAL ORDERS NO. 141.

          WAR DEPARTMENT,
        ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
            WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 1862.

    The following Proclamation by the President is published for
    the information and government of the Army and all concerned:

    _By the President of the United States of America._

      A PROCLAMATION.

    Whereas it has become necessary to call into service not only
    volunteers but also portions of the militia of the States
    by draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in
    the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately
    restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering
    this measure and from giving aid and comfort in various ways
    to the insurrection: Now, therefore, be it ordered: First,
    That during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary
    measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents,
    their aiders and abettors, within the United States, and all
    persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia
    drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and
    comfort to rebels against the authority of the United States
    shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and
    punishment by court-martial or military commission. Second,
    That the writ of _habeas corpus_ is suspended in respect to
    all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the
    rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal,
    military prison, or other place of confinement, by any military
    authority, or by sentence of any court-martial or military
    commission. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and
    caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

    Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of
    September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
    and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the
    eighty-seventh.

        ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

    "By the President,
      "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State_.

    By order of the Secretary of War,
      "L. THOMAS, _Adjutant General_."

        "Official."


This disloyal element was rendered much more formidable by the fact
of its perfect combination, through secret, oath-bound organizations
under the names of Knights of the Golden Circle and Order of American
Knights. These secret orders no doubt had their origin in the South,
preparatory to secession and war; but after the war had been commenced
it was chiefly in the North that they were useful to the rebel cause,
and it was through these that the assassination of the President-elect
was to have been accomplished at Baltimore when on his way to the
Capital in 1861, and thus his inauguration as President was to have
been prevented. We thus see the desperate character of the political
leaders of the rebellion, who were ready to frustrate the expressed
will of the people by resorting to assassination. We need not think
strange that a rebellion which was ready to resort to such means in its
incipiency should finally expire under the weight of this infamy.

By these secret organizations, the enemies of the government, wherever
they might be, possessed the means of a secret recognition amongst
their members. And under whatever circumstances they might be placed,
the obligations of their oath afforded them confidence and security.
They constituted a brotherhood, and by their secret grips, signs,
passwords, etc., they had a guarantee of unity of sentiment and of
purpose, and of faithfulness to each other and to the obligations of
their oath.

These organizations were regarded as allies by the rebel government,
and were counted on as a valuable factor to secure the success of its
arms. This element in the North kept itself in constant communication
with the rebel government and the rebel armies, and thus, in a large
degree, filled the place of spies in giving information. To furnish
facilities for communication with its friends in the North, as also
for various other purposes in aid of the rebel cause, the Confederate
Government sent a number of its ablest civilians to Canada, at an
early period of the war, as its secret agents, who established their
headquarters at Montreal. This cabal consisted of the following
persons: Jacob Thompson, who had been Secretary of the Interior under
Buchanan's administration; Clement C. Clay, who had been a United
States Senator from Alabama; Beverly Tucker, who had been a Circuit
Judge in Virginia; George N. Sanders, William C. Cleary, Prof.
Holcomb, George Harper, and others. Of these, Thompson, Tucker, and
Clay seem to have held semi-official positions, and we will designate
them as Davis's Canada Cabinet. The others named, as also others
unnamed above, appear to have acted as aids, in a subordinate capacity,
in the execution of their plots. They all claimed to be acting as
agents of the Rebel Government upon their oaths on the trial for the
extradition of the St. Alban's raiders.

The proclamation of martial law and suspension of the writ of _habeas
corpus_ in September, 1862, had the effect of restraining the open,
active efforts of these secret disloyal organizations to cripple the
resources at Mr. Lincoln's command for suppressing the rebellion,
inasmuch as any such efforts were met by arrest, military trial, and
imprisonment; yet, inasmuch as they created a necessity for a military
police at all important points in the North, they felt that they were
still rendering valuable service to the rebellion by thus weakening
the force at the front; and whilst it was necessary to conduct their
operations with much more secrecy, their organizations were not
disbanded. They went on to effect a complete military organization,
thoroughly officered and drilled, and in many cases armed, holding
themselves ready to take the field in any emergency that might arise
that would justify so bold a measure. The Canada Cabinet watched over
these organizations with great interest, and directed their operations,
and by many schemes sought to bring about an emergency that would
enable them to bring this army, which they had hidden away in secrecy,
into the field of active operations for the success of their cause.
The officers of these secret military organizations were chosen from
the local political leaders in the different localities where they
existed, and kept themselves in communication with the Canada Cabinet,
and through this medium the Confederate Government was kept informed of
their strength, organization, plans, and purposes. So bold and active
did they become, in spite of the efforts of the military police for
their suppression, that the government finally found it necessary,
through its secret service department, to possess itself of a thorough
knowledge of these organizations, and in this way was enabled to
capture the arms and munitions of war which had been secured and were
hidden away in secrecy by them, and also to arrest the leading officers
of these organizations in several states. Whilst by these means these
treasonable combinations were seriously crippled, they were unchanged
in animus and still struggled to maintain their existence. They kept
themselves in communication with the Canada conspirators, and ready
to co-operate with them for the success of their schemes should the
conditions become sufficiently promising to justify them in declaring
themselves openly.

It was in the summer of 1864 that Jacob Thompson, according to the
testimony before the Commission, declared that he had his friends all
over the Northern States, who were willing to go to any length in order
to serve the cause of the South. Jefferson Davis's Canada Cabinet kept
up a constant correspondence with their chief, through secret agents
who travelled directly through the states, and even through the city of
Washington.

So potent was the aid of secret signs, grips, pass-words, etc., as a
means of recognition, and so universally were the members of these
secret orders diffused over the country, that they could go anywhere.
Should one agent find it necessary to stop his task for fear of
detection, another would take it up; and where men could not go, women
went, to carry communications. The Canada Cabinet was well supplied
with money by the government at Richmond, and in this department of the
service Jacob Thompson seems to have been Secretary of the Treasury.
He kept his deposits largely in the Ontario Bank of Montreal, and his
credits there arose from Southern bills of exchange on London. The
object of the writer in this introductory chapter has been to place
clearly before his readers the formidable character of the conspiracy,
which, with the President of the Confederacy at its head, and organized
by his Canada Cabinet, was intended to throw the loyal North into a
state of chaotic confusion and bring to the aid of their sinking cause
the disloyal element all over the North, by a series of assassinations
which would leave the nation without a civil and military head and
without any constitutional way of electing another President, and
at the same time would deprive the armies of the United States of a
lawful commander. This was the last card of the political leaders of
the rebellion, the last desperate resort to retrieve a cause that had
been manifestly lost in open warfare. It may seem like temerity in the
writer to make such a charge involving a total disregard of the laws of
civilized warfare, and such utter moral depravity on the part of these
conspirators, and to claim for their wicked project the approval of
Jefferson Davis, but the evidence in the possession of the government
and adduced before the Commission, it will be seen, fully justified
the government in making this charge. The persons brought before the
Commission, though in full sympathy in sentiment with their employers,
were merely the tools and hired assassins of the Canada Cabinet, acting
under the advice and sanction of their chief. I shall now proceed to
bring before my readers the denouement of their plot, and, from the
evidence given before the Commission, show that the origin, scope and
purpose of the conspiracy have been truly indicated above.




CHAPTER II.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE PLOT.


The evidence which will be hereafter referred to shows that John Wilkes
Booth and John H. Surratt had, as early as the latter part of October,
or early in November, 1864, entered into a contract with Davis's Canada
Cabinet to accomplish the assassinations they had planned, and that
they immediately entered upon their work of preparation. It would seem
from the evidence, that at that time the purpose was to execute their
designs at a much earlier date than they did; and that this delay was
occasioned by the Canada conspirators.

[Illustration: J. WILKES BOOTH.]

Surratt and Booth, however, were busied from that time on in making
their preparations. The first step was to enlist in the conspiracy a
sufficient number of competent and reliable assistants, to each one
of whom was assigned the part he was to take in it, and to train,
equip, and prepare him for the part assigned him. The assassination of
President Lincoln had fallen to Payne by lot; and to him was entrusted
the task of making all needed preparations. Payne had visited Canada
during the fall of 1864, and probably there made the acquaintance of
Booth. To a man of Booth's sagacity, a mere glance at Payne would be
sufficient to impress him with the idea that he was one of the helpers
he wanted; and as we find him as early as February, 1865, transplanted
to Washington City by Booth and Surratt, and from that time on
associating with them very intimately but very secretly, and without
employment, or visible means, passing back and forth between Washington
and Baltimore, and finally provided with quarters in Washington by
Surratt, there can be no doubt that he was early enlisted in the
conspiracy, and supported by the Canada Cabinet through their agents
in Washington--Booth and Surratt. The author is led to conclude
from studying the evidence that Booth and Surratt were acting under a
considerable latitude of provisional instructions, and that to them was
entrusted the selection of the time and place for the accomplishment of
their purpose. There were a number of persons in Canada, members of the
conspiracy, who were expected to take an active part in its execution;
and it is altogether probable that the original plan contemplated the
accomplishment of these assassinations as opportunities could be found
or made, and that for each one a man had been assigned.

John Wilkes Booth and John Harrison Surratt were the leaders of the
conspiracy in Washington, they having proposed to their co-conspirators
in Canada to accomplish for them the assassinations they had planned.

They were stimulated by their intense hostility to the administration
of President Lincoln and desire for the establishment of the Southern
Confederacy, and also by the delusive idea of winning enduring fame and
the lasting gratitude of their countrymen of the South for being thus
the instruments of retrieving the fortunes of their dying cause. But in
addition to these considerations, they had large promises of pecuniary
reward. They were, in fact, the hired assassins of Jefferson Davis and
his Canada Cabinet.

These two men had been engaged for months in making their preparations
for the assassination of the President, Vice-President, Secretary
Seward, and General Grant. They visited and conferred with the Canada
conspirators from time to time during the summer and fall of 1864,
and early winter of 1865. They traversed the counties of Prince
George, Charles, and St. Mary's, Maryland, lying along the north side
of the Potomac below Washington, to prepare the way for escape by
securing confederates along the contemplated route who would assist
in facilitating their flight by aiding them in their progress, or
by concealing them if necessary. Booth had spent some time in this
work during the fall and early winter, making himself familiar with
the geography of the country, roads, etc., under the pretence that
he desired to purchase lands in Maryland. He found in Charles County
Dr. S. A. Mudd, who sympathized with his plans, and entered into them
at least so far as to pledge him any assistance he could give him
in making his escape. Mudd also visited Booth two or three times in
Washington during the winter, introducing him on the occasion of his
first visit to John H. Surratt; and in the course of these visits he
was always found in company with Booth and others of the conspirators
who were to take an active part in its accomplishment, and was no
doubt kept well informed of the progress of their preparations, and
of the time when it would be attempted after that had been determined
upon. Surratt also spent much time during the winter in this part of
Maryland, in preparation for the work. Being at home there, he could
render Booth valuable assistance by procuring friends who would aid him
in his flight, and in getting him across the Potomac at the selected
point. As this was on the line of a regular underground mail route
between Washington and Richmond, with which Surratt was familiar, he,
of course, had no difficulty in making satisfactory arrangements, the
great mass of the population in all of these counties being intensely
disloyal.

They had selected and arranged with Payne, Atzerodt, O'Laughlin,
Arnold, Herold, Spangler, and numerous other parties who were never
made known, to take an active part in the work of assassination, or to
aid them in their escape. Booth and Surratt had provided horses for
the occasion, and, with Atzerodt and Herold, were known to a number of
liverymen of whom they were liberal and frequent patrons.

Surratt provided quarters for Payne at the Herndon House, representing
him to be a delicate gentleman, and stipulating that his meals should
be served to him in his room. Atzerodt, who was to have assassinated
the Vice-President, had taken a room at the Pennsylvania House. Booth,
being an actor, and familiar with the routine of the play and the work
of the assistants on the stage, having selected Ford's Theatre as the
place for the accomplishment of his purpose, proceeded to make himself
at home amongst the _habitues_ of that establishment. He was a very
handsome man, stylish in his dress, dissolute in his habits, a constant
and free drinker, generous in the expenditure of his money on his vices
of smoking and drinking, and of great personal magnetism. He soon
ingratiated himself with the employees of the theatre, and became a
general favorite.

It was necessary that he should have a co-conspirator at the theatre
to assist him in making his escape. He had labored hard with an actor
in New York by the name of Chester, with whom he was acquainted, to
engage him in the conspiracy, that he might station him at the door of
his exit, to see that his way should be clear and the door open at the
critical moment, for which service he offered to pay him three thousand
dollars; but Chester, after several interviews and much importunity,
absolutely declined, and begged Booth never to mention the matter to
him again. Failing to secure Chester, he turned his attention to Edward
Spangler, an employee at the theatre. Spangler was a man of dissipated
habits, low moral tone, and little intellectual culture, and being
politically in sympathy with Booth, he was easily led by him into the
conspiracy. Booth had had a shed fitted up as a stable in an alley back
of the theatre, and had kept his horse in it occasionally for some time
previous, that he might have it convenient when the supreme moment
should have arrived, without exciting suspicion. To reach the private
box fitted up on the occasion for the occupancy of the President and
General Grant, with their wives, it was necessary to pass through two
doors. The first led into a passage behind the box, the second from
this passage into the box. To prevent any one from following him into
the passage and hindering the accomplishment of his purpose, Booth had
cut, himself, or more likely had had Spangler, who was a kind of rough
carpenter, cut a mortise in the plastering of the passage wall, in such
a position with reference to the door that the end of a wooden bar,
three and a half feet long, which had been prepared for that purpose,
could be inserted in the mortise, and the other end placed against the
panel of the door so that it could not be opened from the outside.

That ingress to this passage might not be prevented by the bolting of
the door by the President and his party after entering, the screws of
the fastenings had been drawn, so that it could be easily pushed open.
A hole had been bored through the door to the box, opposite where the
President's chair was placed, with a small bit, and reamed out with a
knife, so that Booth could, after gaining the passage and barring the
door behind him, peep through this hole and assure himself of the exact
position of his intended victim. The manner in which all of these
arrangements had been made, the mortise in the plastered wall, the
bar of wood fitted to the mortise, and in length having been exactly
prepared to fit against the panel of the door and act as a brace, show
that all these preparations had been made with the greatest forethought
and care.

About three weeks previous to the assassination, John H. Surratt,
Herold, and Atzerodt brought to the tavern at Surrattsville, in
Maryland, about ten miles below Washington City, owned by Mrs. Surratt,
and at the time occupied by a man by the name of Lloyd, two carbines,
with ammunition, a monkey-wrench, and a piece of rope. Surratt asked
Lloyd to take charge of these things and keep them secreted, saying
they would be called for before a great while, at the same time showing
him a suitable place about the house in which to hide them. The Surratt
family had lived in this house and kept a country tavern until within
a few months previous, when they had removed to Washington, renting
their tavern to Lloyd, so that Surratt was much more familiar with the
house than Lloyd. These things, as we shall see, were placed there
for the use of Booth and his companion in their flight after the
assassination. As a precautionary measure, Booth, on the Tuesday before
the assassination, sought an interview with Mrs. Surratt, who shortly
after that interview discovered that she had some private business at
Surrattsville that had to be attended to that day, and so she asked
Mr. Wiechmann, a young man who had been a boarder at her house for
several months, to drive her down, saying that she wanted to go and
see a Mr. Nothey who owed her some money. She then sent Wiechmann to
Booth, to get his horse and buggy for the drive. Booth told Wiechmann
that he had sold his horse and buggy, but gave him ten dollars with
which to procure one. Meeting Lloyd on the way down, driving up to
Washington, they stopped; Lloyd got out of his buggy and went to the
side of Mrs. Surratt's buggy, on which she was sitting, when Mrs.
Surratt told Lloyd, as he afterwards testified, in a low voice, so that
Wiechmann did not hear what she said, to have those shooting irons
ready, or handy, as they would be called for before long. On the day
of the assassination Booth again had a private interview with Mrs.
Surratt, after which she again asked Wiechmann to drive her down to
Surrattsville, claiming the same errand as before. On this occasion she
sought an opportunity for a private interview with Lloyd, when she told
him to have the carbines handy, as they would be called for that night,
at the same time handing him a field-glass, which Booth had given to
her, and telling him to have two bottles of whiskey ready.

John H. Surratt left Washington for Richmond on the 25th of March and
returned to Washington on the 3d of April, leaving for Montreal on the
evening of the same day. He showed to Wiechmann--an old college friend
and, at this time, a boarder in his mother's house--nine or eleven
twenty-dollar gold pieces, and sixty dollars in greenbacks, on his
return from Richmond. Surratt, in his Rockville lecture, admits that
he received two hundred dollars in gold from Benjamin to pay expenses
and remunerate for services. Surratt left Washington for Canada on
the evening of the 3d of April, and we find him, by the evidence, in
Montreal on the 6th, where he delivered to Thompson a cipher dispatch
from Jefferson Davis, and a letter from Mr. Benjamin, of Davis's
Richmond Cabinet. After reading these documents, Thompson, laying his
hand on them, said, "This makes the thing all right." The sanction of
the rebel president to his arrangements with the assassins had been
obtained, and authority also for the expenditure of funds to fulfil the
contract. The Canada conspirators who were to take a part prepared at
once, and started for the States, boasting to their friends that they
would hear of the death of Old Abe and others before ten days. This was
on the 8th of April, and nothing now remained but to find, and use, an
opportunity; and Booth selected the appearance of the President at the
theatre as affording the opportunity he sought, and proceeded to make
all his arrangements accordingly.

All things were now ready. Booth had selected the route for his escape
and had provided to be furnished with a field-glass, two carbines,
and two bottles of whiskey at Surrattsville, having sent a notice to
Lloyd to have them ready, as they would be called for that night. He
had provided horses from a livery-stable for himself and Herold, who
was to accompany him. He had also provided a horse for Payne, whose
part was to murder Secretary Seward. He had assembled his assistants
in Washington, to one of whom, Michael O'Laughlin, he had assigned
the task of the assassination of General Grant; and having made these
preparations, he spent the day and afternoon of the 14th of April
looking after the matter generally, and keeping up his courage, or
rather recklessness, with frequent potations of whiskey. To Payne he
had given a one-eyed bay horse, which he had purchased of a man by the
name of Gardner, a neighbor of Dr. Samuel Mudd, in Charles County,
Maryland. Mudd accompanied him, and introduced him to Gardner as a
man who was desirous of purchasing land in that part of Maryland,
and who wished a good driving horse that he could use for a short
time. During the afternoon of the 14th, Booth, Herold, and Atzerodt
hired horses from liverymen, and were to be seen riding here and
there about the streets of Washington, frequently stopping at saloons
to refresh themselves with that which obtunds all moral sensibility
and makes men reckless in wickedness. Booth was acting the part of a
general mustering his forces for the conflict, part of which he thus
displayed openly, but keeping another part in concealment. He kept
himself in active communication with all, and delivered his orders
and instructions. Feeling the full force of the responsibility of
his engagement, and earnestly intent on its complete and thorough
accomplishment, he attended in person to every detail to make failure,
if possible, an impossibility.

It would seem that a previous attempt had been made to assassinate
the President, which had resulted in a failure. It was known that
President Lincoln was in the habit of riding out to the Soldiers' Home
of evenings, passing through a lonely suburb of the city unguarded.
Some time in March, John Wilkes Booth, John H. Surratt, Payne,
Atzerodt, Herold, and two others, left the house of Mrs. Surratt about
two o'clock in the afternoon, on horseback, armed with revolvers
and bowie-knives, and returned about six o'clock under the greatest
possible excitement of rage and disappointment. All the evidence
went to show that this expedition was regarded by them as one of the
greatest importance, involving the necessity of leaving the city,
perhaps for good, as their return in the evening was as much of a
surprise to their friends as it was an occasion of dissatisfaction to
themselves. I think there can hardly be a doubt that they expected to
intercept the President on his way to the Home, and were lying in wait
for him with the purpose of there assassinating him, and then making
their escape. The President, however, upon the earnest advice of his
cabinet, had yielded the point of riding unprotected and alone, and had
accepted the protection of an escort of cavalry on these rides. Booth
and his party finding him thus guarded had been compelled to abandon
the idea of thus finding an opportunity to assassinate him, and so had
to prepare a new plan of operations. There was a rumor, which found
its way into the papers about this time, that there was a plot to
capture the President and carry him a prisoner to Richmond; but however
much Booth's pride and vanity might have impelled him to achieve the
notoriety that would have attended the accomplishment of such a feat,
the difficulties and dangers attending its accomplishment must have
been too obvious to a man of Booth's sagacity, and its success involved
in too much uncertainty, to have justified him in making such an
attempt.

In view of all the facts, I conclude that the real purpose of Booth and
his party on the occasion referred to was to murder the President, and
trust to flight for concealment and safety. But now Booth was fully
possessed with the idea of the practicability of his present plan, and
was determined to know no such word as fail; and that it was entirely
possible that, but for a Providential interference, he might have made
good his escape after murdering the President, we shall hereafter see.

President Lincoln had been convinced by the most undoubted proofs
that a plan for his assassination at Baltimore whilst on his way to
Washington, in 1861, to assume the responsibilities of the office to
which he had been called by the choice of the people, had been arranged
and prepared for by his enemies, and had only been prevented of its
execution by the strategic movement planned by his friends, by which he
passed through that city during the night previous to the morning on
which he was expected.

"From the very beginning of his Presidency Mr. Lincoln had been
constantly subject to the threats of his enemies and the warnings of
his friends. The threats came in every form: his mail was infested with
brutal and vulgar menace, mostly anonymous, the proper expression of
vile and cowardly minds.

"The warnings were not less numerous; the vaporings of village
bullies, the extravagancies of excited secessionist politicians, even
the drolling of practical jokers, were faithfully reported to him by
zealous or nervous friends. Most of these communications received no
notice. In cases where there seemed a ground for inquiry it was made,
as carefully as possible, by the President's private secretary and by
the War Department, but always without substantial results.

"Warnings that appeared to be most definite, when they came to be
examined proved too vague and confused for further attention. The
President was too intelligent not to know he was in some danger. Madmen
frequently made their way to the very door of the executive offices,
and sometimes into Mr. Lincoln's presence.

"He had himself so sane a mind, and a heart so kindly even to his
enemies, that it was hard for him to believe in a political hatred so
deadly as to lead to murder. He would sometimes laughingly say, 'Our
friends on the other side would make nothing by exchanging me for
Hamlin,' the Vice-President having the reputation of more radical views
than his chief. He knew, indeed, that incitements to murder him were
not uncommon in the South. An advertisement had appeared in a paper of
Selma, Alabama, in December, 1864, opening a subscription for funds to
affect the assassination of Lincoln, Seward, and Johnson before the
inauguration."[1]

In view of all this danger he would say "that he could not possibly
guard against it unless he were to shut himself up in an iron box, in
which condition he could scarcely perform the duties of a President.
By the hand of a murderer he could only die once; to go continually in
fear would be to die over and over."

To his faithful and devoted friend, Father Chiniquy, who on several
occasions warned him of his danger, and of the ultimate source of its
inspiration, he said, "I see no other way than to be always prepared to
die. I know my danger; but man must not care how and where he dies,
provided he dies at the post of honor and duty."

We have come to the point now where we find, on the part of his
murderers, all things ready for his taking off; and their intended
victim prepared in mind for his fate, and ready to "die at the post
of honor and duty." What a fearful, and at the same time, sublime
spectacle! The powers of light and the powers of darkness were
contending, as ever, for the supremacy. Satan, the usurper, claims this
world for his kingdom. He has seduced and enslaved the human race, and,
by every false and cunning device, is always resisting every movement
that looks to the disenthralment of mankind, and bringing the world
back to its allegiance to God, its rightful sovereign. How sublime was
the faith of President Lincoln in the ultimate triumph of the right!
How sincerely and believingly could he have sung,

        "Thy saints in all this glorious war,
          Shall conquer though they die;
        They see the triumph from afar,
          By faith they bring it nigh."




CHAPTER III.

ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT AND ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF SECRETARY
SEWARD.


On the morning of the 14th of April, 1865, the President's messenger
went to Ford's Theatre in Washington City and engaged a private box
for the President and General Grant, with their wives, to witness the
play of "Our American Cousin," which was to be rendered there that
night. The heavy burden of responsibility, the weight of cares and
anxieties which had for four long years rested on the head of President
Lincoln in his official position of President of the United States
and Commander-in-Chief of its army and navy, employed during all that
time in suppressing a gigantic rebellion of the slave-holding States
of the South against the constitutional and lawful authority of the
government, and which had followed him into his second term of office,
upon which he had just entered, had been partially lifted by the signal
success of the Union arms at Appomattox, and the surrender of Lee's
army. General Grant, who had just accepted the unconditional surrender
of that army, and finished the work of dismissing to their homes the
officers and men who had composed it (and who for four long years had
fought with such magnificent bravery, and manifested such earnestness
and determinedness of purpose in a cause which, though bad, was no
doubt esteemed by them to be just), under no other condition than that
they should return to their homes and the pursuits of peaceful life,
and desist from all further acts of hostility against the government
they had sought, but failed, to overthrow, had gone to Washington to
talk over the situation with the President and Secretary of War, and
to decide on future operations for the speedy establishment of peace.
With the surrender of Lee's army, and the successful march of Sherman
from Atlanta to the sea, and his almost unresisted progress up the
coast toward the Nation's Capital, it was obvious that the rebellion
had collapsed, and that the return of peace was just at hand. All
loyal hearts throughout the land throbbed with joy, and praise and
thanksgiving ascended to Him who had stamped the righteousness of the
union cause with the signet of His approbation, in thus giving us the
victory after a long and bloody contest. The years of sacrifice, toil,
suffering and danger were almost forgotten in the gladness of that
hour; and the war-scarred veterans in the field, and their friends at
home, were rejoicing at the prospect of a speedy re-union, under skies
of peace. It was an hour big with the memories of the past and hopes
of the future. When we think of what President Lincoln had endured
through all these years of the war; of his unfaltering purpose to
discharge all the duties of his official oath, by protecting, defending
and preserving the constitution of his country; of the formidable
difficulties that had to be met and overcome--difficulties thrown
across his pathway often by friends, always by foes; when we remember
his largeness of soul, his unbounded love of, and sympathy with,
mankind; his all controlling love of his country and her institutions
of freedom; his patient toleration of opposing views of martial and of
political policy; his self-poise, and almost infallible appreciation
of the situation and its demands, in whatever circumstances he might
be placed; his kindness of nature and goodness of heart, we can well
conceive what must have been his fullness of joy on this the last day
of his sojourn on earth. God, in his providence, led him to the opening
of a vista through which his patriotic and philanthropic soul could
swell with delightful anticipations of the greatness, the glory, and
the happiness that should accrue to mankind through his faithfulness to
the obligations of his official oath, by which he had vindicated his
authority, and brought to a right solution the great moral question
underlying the contest, and thus had made our beloved land a land
of freedom in fact, as well as in name. He saw a new and glorious
era about to dawn on his country. Like Moses, however, he was only
permitted, in vision, to look over into the promised land--the great
future of his beloved country.

It is consoling to thus know that to the great Lincoln his last day on
earth was the happiest, and at the same time, the meekest day of his
life. His biographers, Nicolay and Hay, who were able to write from
personal association with, and observation of, this great man, inform
us that on this day his soul was filled with the kindliest feelings
toward his enemies, and in his last conference with his cabinet his
policy of dealing with them was shadowed forth as free from feelings
of revenge or desire for the punishment of any. He desired that no man
should lose his life for the part he had taken in the rebellion. He
held "malice toward none," and was filled with "charity for all." His
passage from time to eternity, though brought about by the bullet of an
assassin, was a passage through a triumphal arch, whose further portal
was the gate of heaven.

The presence of General Grant was known to the city, and it was noised
abroad that both he and President Lincoln would honor the theatre with
their presence on that evening. The public knowledge of this fact was
calculated to bring out a brilliant and large assemblage of people.
The loyal citizens would be there to give to the President and the
successful and popular commander of his armies in the field a heartfelt
and royal ovation in this the hour of their triumph. All felt happy
and secure. That they were coming together to witness, on that night,
the awful tragedy of the assassination of the nation's head, President
Lincoln, was not dreamed of by any except those who had made every
preparation in advance for accomplishing the murderous plot, and who
were stealthily slipping about through the assembling crowds, like
fiends, to assure themselves that every arrangement for the successful
accomplishment of their hellish purpose was complete. During the day
General Grant received a telegram that called him to Philadelphia on
business, and owing to this apparently providential circumstance he
was prevented from accompanying the President to the theatre on that
eventful night, and also, in all probability, from being, with the
President, a victim of the plot, in which there is good reason to
conclude, from all the evidence, his life was included, and that for
him an assassin had been provided.

In lieu of General and Mrs. Grant, President Lincoln had taken Major
Rathbone and Miss Harris, the step-son and daughter of Senator Harris,
of New York, into the Presidential party. On reaching the theatre at a
somewhat late hour, and after the play had commenced, as soon as the
presence of the President became known, the actors stopped playing, the
band struck up "Hail to the Chief," and the audience rose and received
him with vociferous cheering.

The party proceeded along the rear of the dress circle, and entered the
box that had been prepared for them, the President taking the rocking
chair that had been placed there for him on the left of the box, and
nearest to the audience, about four feet from the door of entrance to
the box. Major Rathbone and the ladies found seats on the President's
right. During this time the conspirators were on the alert, scanning
the situation, passing about so as to keep up a communication with each
other, in preparation for their work. Booth had arranged with Payne to
assassinate Secretary Seward at the same time that he would assassinate
the President; and no doubt had planned for Payne, after accomplishing
his task, to join him and Herold in their flight, crossing the Eastern
Branch at the Navy Yard bridge, and then to pass down through Maryland
and cross the Potomac, at a selected point, into Virginia, where
they might consider themselves as being safe amongst their friends.
Secretary Seward was known to have received severe injuries from the
upsetting of his carriage, and to be lying in a critical condition
under the care of Dr. Verdi. Booth had planned to take advantage of
this circumstance for gaining admittance for Payne into the sick
chamber, where, by springing with the ferocity of a tiger upon the sick
man, he might make quick work in dispatching him with his dagger. To
this end he had prepared a package rolled up in paper, and had schooled
Payne in the artifice, teaching him to represent himself as having been
sent by Dr. Verdi with this package of medicine, which it was necessary
he should deliver in person, as he had important verbal directions as
to the manner of its use, which required him to see the Secretary.

About ten o'clock Booth rode up the alley back of the theatre where
he had been accustomed to keep his horse, and having reached the rear
entrance, called for Ned three times, each time a little louder than
before. At the third call Ned Spangler answered to his summons by
appearing at the door. Booth's first salutation was in the form of a
question: "Ned, you will help me all you can, won't you?" To which
Spangler replied, "Oh, yes!" Booth then requested him to send "Peanuts"
(a boy employed about the theatre), to hold his horse. Spangler gave
the boy orders to do this, and upon the boy making the objection that
he might be out of place at the time he had a duty to perform, Spangler
bade him go, saying that he would stand responsible for him. The boy
then took the reins, and held the horse for about half an hour, until
Booth returned to reward him with a curse and a kick, as he jerked the
rein from him preparatory to remounting for his flight. After entering
the theatre, Booth passed rapidly across the stage, glancing at the
box occupied by his intended victim, and looking up his accomplices,
he passed out of the front door on to the walk where he was met by two
of his fellow conspirators. One of these was a low, villainous-looking
fellow, whilst the other was a very neatly-dressed man. Booth
held a private conference with these by the door where he and the
vulgar-looking fellow had stationed themselves. The neatly-dressed man
crossed the walk to the rear of the President's carriage and peeped
into it. One of the witnesses, who was sitting on the platform in front
of the theatre, had his attention arrested by the manner and conduct of
these men, and so watched them very closely.

It was at the close of the second act that Booth and his two fellow
conspirators appeared at the door. Booth said, "I think he will come
down now"; and they aligned themselves to await his coming. Their
communications with each other were in whispered tones. Finding that
the President would remain until the close of the play, they then began
to prepare to assassinate him in the theatre. The neatly-dressed man
called the time three times in succession at short intervals, each
time a little louder than before. Booth now entered the saloon, took a
drink of whiskey, and then went at once into the theatre. He passed
quickly along next to the wall behind the chairs, and having reached a
point near the door that led to the passage behind the box, he stopped,
took a small pack of visiting cards from his pocket, selected one and
replaced the others; stood a second with it in his hand, and then
showed it to the President's messenger, who was sitting just below
him, and then, without waiting, passed through the door from the lobby
into the passage, closing and barring it after him. Taking a hasty,
but careful, look through the hole which he had had made in the door
for the purpose of assuring himself of the President's position, and
cocking his pistol and with his finger on the trigger, he pulled open
the door, and stealthily entered the box, where he stood right behind
and within three feet of the President. The play had advanced to the
second scene of the third act, and whilst the audience was intensely
interested Booth fired the fatal shot--the ball penetrating the skull
on the back of the left side of the head, inflicting a wound in the
brain (the ball passing entirely through and lodging behind the right
eye), of which he died at about half-past seven o'clock on the morning
of the fifteenth. He was unconscious from the moment he was struck
until his spirit passed from earth. An unspeakable calm settled on that
remarkable face, leaving the impress of a happy soul on the casket it
had left behind.

Thus died the man who said, "Senator Douglass says he don't care
whether slavery is voted up, or voted down; but God cares, and humanity
cares, and I care."

As soon as Booth had fired his pistol, and was satisfied that his end
was accomplished, he cried out, "Revenge for the South!" and throwing
his pistol down, he took his dagger in his right hand, and placed his
left hand on the balustrade preparatory to his leap of twelve feet to
the stage. Just at this moment Major Rathbone sprang forward and tried
to catch him. In this he failed, but received a severe cut in his arm
from a back-handed thrust of Booth's dagger. Time was everything now to
the assassin. He must make good his escape whilst the audience stood
dazed, and before it had time to comprehend clearly what had happened.
With his left hand on the railing, he boldly leaped from the box to the
stage. The front of the box had been draped for the occasion with the
American flag, which was stretched across its front, and reached down
nearly or quite to the floor. In the descent, Booth's spur caught in
the flag, tearing out a piece which he dragged nearly half way across
the stage. The flag, however, was avenged for this double insult which
he had put upon it; for by this entanglement his descent was deflected,
causing him to strike the stage obliquely, and partially to fall, thus
fracturing the fibula of his left leg, on account of which injury his
flight was impeded, and his permanent escape made impossible. As he
recovered himself from his partial fall and started to run across the
stage with his dagger brandished aloft, he cried out in a theatrical
tone, "_Sic semper tyrannis!_" and quickly passed out at a little back
door opening into the alley where he had left his horse, and, though
closely pursued, succeeded in mounting, and rode rapidly away.

Of course he could not afford to run any risks in regard to his escape,
and for all this he had made his arrangements in advance. Spangler had
faithfully redeemed his promise to render him all the aid he could by
keeping the passage to the door clear at the critical moment, and also
by doing all he could to retard pursuit. When a fellow-employee cried
out, "That was Booth!" Ned ordered him to shut up, saying "You don't
know who it was." Booth was closely pursued by a man by the name of
Stewart, who followed him into the alley, making every effort he could
to stop him; but Booth kept his horse in motion, so that Stewart failed
to get hold of the rein, and the assassin was soon off at a rapid pace.

Stewart testified that Spangler, or a man resembling him, stood
near the door, and could have prevented Booth's exit had he been so
disposed. It is evident his purpose was to aid, rather than hinder, his
escape. All the occupants of the stage, actors and assistants, male and
female, were in a state of confusion and intense excitement except this
man, who evidently had not been taken by surprise, but was prepared in
mind for what had happened, and had played his part in the tragedy.

At the same hour that Booth fired the fatal shot, Payne appeared at the
door of Secretary Seward's house, in the guise of a messenger from Dr.
Verdi, holding in his hand the package that Booth had prepared for him,
and demanded to see the Secretary, saying that he had a verbal message
which was of particular importance in regard to the use, or application
of, the medicine, and that he must see the Secretary himself. Dr.
Verdi had left his patient but a short time previous, and had consoled
the family that had for days been suffering the greatest anxiety on
account of the Secretary's condition by taking a favorable view of the
symptoms. The family, worn with watching and anxiety, were disposing of
themselves for the night. Major A. H. Seward had retired to his room.
Sergeant George F. Robinson, acting as attendant nurse, was watching
by the bedside, in company with Miss Seward, the Secretary's daughter.
Frederick Seward occupied the room at the head of the stairs. All the
rooms occupied by the Secretary and his family were on the second
floor, and were reached by a flight of stairs in the hallway.

The second waiter, William H. Bell, a colored lad of nineteen, was
stationed at the hall door. Being somewhat relieved of their anxiety by
the doctor's favorable view of the case, all were anticipating a night
of quiet rest. The door bell rang, and was responded to by Bell, the
colored waiter. Immediately upon his opening of the door, Payne stepped
into the hall. He was a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man, as agile
and ferocious as a panther; a low-browed, scowling, villainous-looking
specimen of humanity, the animal preponderating largely in every
feature of his visage and expression of his countenance. There he
stood, holding in his left hand the package, and keeping his right hand
in his overcoat pocket. He demanded of the boy to be allowed to see the
Secretary, telling his story about being sent by Dr. Verdi to deliver
the medicine with his directions. The porter told him that his orders
were to admit no one, and that he could not see Mr. Seward; that he
would deliver the package himself. To this Payne would not consent, but
persisted in saying that he _must_ see Mr. Seward. After considerable
parleying, he started up stairs, and the porter, seeing that he
would go, and thinking that he might complain of his conduct to the
Secretary, asked him to pardon him, to which Payne replied, "O, I know,
that's all right." He was wearing heavy boots, and took no pains to
walk lightly as he went up the stairs, whereupon the porter requested
him not to make so much noise, to which, however, he paid no attention.
As he approached the head of the stairs, he was met by Mr. Frederick
Seward, who had been attracted by the noise, to whom he said, "I want
to see Mr. Seward." Frederick went into his father's room, and finding
him asleep, returned saying, "You cannot see him." All this time Payne
stood holding out the package in his left hand, grasping with his right
hand the pistol in his overcoat pocket. Frederick requested him to give
him the package, saying he would deliver it; but Payne persisted in
saying that that would not do; he _must_ see Mr. Seward,--he _must_ see
him.

Frederick finally said, "I am the proprietor here, and his son; if
you cannot leave your message with me, you cannot leave it at all."
Payne still continued parleying with Frederick for some time; but
finding that his talking availed nothing, he started as if to go down
stairs. This, however, was only a feint on his part in order to throw
Frederick off of his guard and to get rid of the porter who stood
behind him. He again walked so heavily that the porter requested him
not to make so much noise; but at that moment, Payne, having prepared
himself for the encounter, turned quickly, and making a spring towards
Frederick, struck him two or three times with the pistol, which he had
all the time held in his hand, fracturing his skull and knocking him
senseless to the floor. Having learned which was the room occupied
by the invalid by seeing Frederick go into it, Payne rushed past the
prostrate man, opened the door of the Secretary's room, and was met by
Sergeant Robinson. Having broken and thrown down his revolver in his
encounter with Frederick, he had drawn his dagger, and at his first
encounter with the sergeant he struck him with his knife, cutting an
ugly gash in his forehead, and partially knocking him down. He then
pressed rapidly forward, knife in hand, to where the invalid lay in his
bed. Throwing himself upon him, he commenced striking at his face and
neck with his dagger. The Secretary was reclining in a half-sitting
posture, having the coverings well drawn up about his neck and chin,
to which circumstance the failure of the would-be assassin to take
his life was no doubt due. The sergeant, as soon as he recovered his
equilibrium, sprang upon Payne, and Major Seward, having been awakened
by the screams of his sister, sprang into the room in his night-dress.
Finding the sergeant grappling him in such a way as to hinder the
effectiveness of his thrusts at the Secretary, and probably thinking
that he had accomplished his purpose, he turned his attention toward
making his escape. In disentangling himself from the grasp of the two
men who now had hold of him, he gave to Major Seward several severe
cuts about the head and face, crying all the time, "I am mad! I am
mad!" Finally, pulling himself loose, he started to make his way to the
street. Meeting a Mr. Emrick W. Hansel, another nurse, on the stairs,
he made a thrust at him with his knife, inflicting an ugly wound. He
now left the house, leaving five of its inmates stabbed, cut, and
bleeding behind him. Having reached the street, he deliberately threw
his dagger away, mounted the horse which he had hitched in front of
the door, and rode off. Thus, for the time being, this inhuman monster
passed from sight, having made good his retreat minus his dagger,
hat, and revolver. He was not a moment too soon in withdrawing from
the house. The colored porter, as soon as he saw the violence done to
Frederick Seward at the head of the stairs, ran down and out into the
street with the cry of "murder," and did not stop until he reached
General Angur's headquarters, where he reported the occurrence and ran
back immediately, accompanied by two or three soldiers. They reached
the house just in time to see Payne mount his horse and ride away.
He was followed some distance by the porter, who kept nearly up with
him for some time, as he rode slowly at first, but he then mended his
pace, and was soon out of sight. The soldiers, having no orders and not
comprehending the situation, made no effort to stop him, although the
colored boy who gave the alarm, and who preceded them, pointed him out
to them as the man who had so ruthlessly broken the quiet of that house
and produced such consternation amongst its peaceful inmates.

Although Payne rode away so leisurely at the start, he put his horse
to the top of his speed as soon as he had fairly cleared the streets
and reached the suburbs of the city. About two hours later, a bay
horse, saddled, and blind of an eye, came running up a by-road that
led to Camp Barry, about three-fourths of a mile east of the capitol,
and was there halted and taken charge of and placed in General Angur's
stables. The horse, when found, bore marks of having been ridden at a
furious rate. The sweat was streaming from every pore and dripping to
the ground. This proved to be the bay horse that Booth had bought from
Gardner, the neighbor of Dr. Mudd, in November, 1864, and which he sold
to his co-conspirator, Arnold, in January, 1865, according to his own
statement made some time before the assassination.

This was no doubt the horse rode by Payne on that night. The most
probable theory is, that being pushed and urged at a furious rate, and
being blind of an eye, he stumbled and pitched headlong, throwing, and
probably stunning, his rider, after which he regained his footing and
made his escape before Payne had sufficiently recovered to get hold of
him. The fact of his being a little lame when caught goes to sustain
this theory. Thus was the would-be assassin prevented from joining his
comrades, Booth and Herold, in their flight, and compelled to skulk and
hide in the suburbs of the city for the next two days. He was without
arms and hatless, and was compelled to throw away his overcoat, which
was afterwards found, on account of the bloodstains on its sleeves. He
knew that the alarm would spread rapidly throughout the vicinity, and
in his present condition he dared not venture out through the country,
so he was compelled to spend the time in hiding and skulking until he
was forced from his retreat by hunger. Making a covering for his head
out of a sleeve from his under-shirt, which he drew over it like a
turban, he shouldered a pick, which he had stolen from the trenches,
and at near the hour of midnight on the 17th he entered the city. He
went directly to the house of Mrs. Surratt, as the safest place he
could find to rest, hide, and refresh himself, and obtain an outfit
in which he might make his escape. Here he felt that he could trust
the secret of his presence. Unfortunately for him, as well as for Mrs.
Surratt, the government had by this time come into possession of such
information as justified it in sending its military police to that
house, with orders to arrest its inmates.

It had been discovered that the house of Mrs. Surratt had been the
headquarters of the conspirators in Washington City. The officer in
charge of the police, Major H. W. Smith, had reached the house but a
short time before Payne arrived. Payne came with his turban on his
head, and the pick on his shoulder, and rang the door-bell. Major Smith
responded to the bell, and asked him to come in. Seeing the officer, he
said he believed he was mistaken in the house. Being asked whose house
he sought, he replied, "Mrs. Surratt's." The officer replied, "This
is the place," and drawing his revolver on him, ordered him to come
in. Payne entered, and the officer closed the door. He then inquired
who he was, and what he wanted. To these questions he replied that he
was a poor man, and a laborer, and that Mrs. Surratt had sent for him
to dig a drain for her. On being asked what brought him there at that
time of night, he replied that he "merely called to see what time Mrs.
Surratt wanted him to go to work in the morning." The officer saw that
his hands bore no marks of labor, and at once suspected he had caged
one of the conspirators. He placed him under arrest and took him along
with the others in the house, to General Angur's headquarters, where he
was held for identification. William H. Bell, the colored boy who was
second waiter at Mr. Seward's, being sent for, at once unhesitatingly
identified him as the man who had produced such consternation in the
house of Mr. Seward, on the night of the 14th, by his determined
efforts to take the Secretary's life. Lewis Payne, having been thus
captured and identified, and Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, were the first
amongst the conspirators to be held for trial.

After the attack at Secretary Seward's, Dr. Verdi and two or
three other surgeons were at once called to examine and treat the
Secretary and the other victims of Payne's dagger. The house in which
the onslaught was made had the appearance of a charnal house or
slaughter-pen. The Secretary was found to have received three or four
severe cuts about the face and neck, which were only made dangerous by
the loss of blood they had occasioned and the weak condition of the
patient.

The Secretary made a slow but good recovery. Of the other four wounded
men, the wounds of Mr. Frederick Seward proved the most serious,
as his skull had been fractured and depressed, so as to render him
unconscious, from which condition he was only recalled by a surgical
operation.

All finally recovered. Here again we are called to notice the
providences in the case, leading to the capture of Payne, and to the
bringing on his head the just reward of his deeds.




CHAPTER IV.

THE NEWS COMMUNICATED TO THE WORLD, AND ITS EFFECT.


On the morning of the 15th of April, 1865, the telegraph wires carried
to every part of the United States that was in communication with
Washington, and to the rest of the civilized world, the astounding
intelligence that Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
had been assassinated on the previous night by John Wilkes Booth,
at Ford's Theatre in Washington City; that at the same hour a most
savage attempt had been made to assassinate the Secretary of State,
Hon. William H. Seward, and that he was lying in a most critical and
dangerous condition from the wounds which he had received, and would
probably die. Never, perhaps, in the history of the race were so many
hearts bleeding, and so many eyes suffused with tears at one time, as
on that sorrowful day. The nation was filled with grief, mingled with
indignation and horror at the deed. The land was literally draped in
mourning. Every city, and every town and village, displayed the sable
habiliments of grief. The response came back to our people, in kind,
from every civilized people on earth.

The writer was at the time a member of Grant's victorious army, and
had large opportunities for witnessing the effects produced by the sad
intelligence on the soldiery of our country. From the highest officers
down to the rank and file of the army, sorrow and grief were depicted
on every countenance. From Appomattox to Richmond the victorious
army that had been filled with joyful and hopeful anticipations over
its successes, and the prospect of the speedy dawn of peace, and of
returning to their homes and friends and to the pursuits of peaceful
life, after four years of arduous military service, was at once plunged
into the deepest sadness and gloom. Strong men wept. It was as though
every soldier had lost his dearest friend. There was always a day of
sadness in the army after every great battle, even in the triumphs
of victory, at the thought of the many brave comrades who had given
up their lives for their country, and would never again be seen in
the ranks,--who were even then being gathered up from the field and
carefully laid away in silence to await the resurrection morn; and of
the others, who with loss of limbs and fearful wounds, were receiving
the care of the surgeons and nurses in the hospitals improvised for the
occasion; but never before had such a pall of grief been thrown over
the entire army.

The depth of sorrow into which the nation was plunged by the news
of his assassination revealed, as nothing else could have done, the
place Abraham Lincoln held in the confidence and affections of the
loyal people of the land. The first shock of the sad intelligence was
almost paralytic. The people--even the army--for the moment stood dazed
and bewildered. What was the meaning of all this? Was the war to be
prolonged? Were we now to be called upon to turn our victorious arms
upon the enemy in the rear, of whose existence we had all the time been
conscious? Such were the questions that first suggested themselves. If
so, the army was then in a state of mind to have made a short work of
it. The victory over our armed foe in front, who had so bravely met us,
and often with success, on many a hotly-contested field, would never
have been yielded to the disloyal cowards who, through all of these
years of the war, from their safe retreats and hiding-places, threw
every obstacle they could in the way of our now martyred President, and
who had planned and accomplished his taking off.

The extent of the conspiracy had not as yet been revealed; but enough
was known to the government to evince the fact that this was an act of
deep political significance, having behind it a very different class of
men from the dissolute and depraved assassins who were executing their
behests, and not merely done for the gratification of personal and
political revenge. It was obvious that the occasion called for the most
vigorous and decided measures on the part of the government to meet
and overcome the strategy of assassinations just now entered upon. It
very soon became known to the authorities that the plot had been but
very partially executed, and that the purpose of the conspirators was
to subvert the constitution by depriving the nation of its executive
head, and leaving no constitutional way of electing a new President,
and at the same time to deprive the armies in the field of a lawful
commander. To accomplish this, the President, Vice-President, Secretary
of State, and General Grant were all to have been assassinated. The
conspirators in Canada and also the rebel president, when they heard
that only President Lincoln had been killed, could not conceal their
disappointment, and virtually confessed that their deep-laid scheme
had proven a failure. The former still adhered to their purpose, and
in their rage declared, "We are not done with them yet." We hardly
dare to venture upon the consideration of what would have been the
result had they completed the work they had planned. We have reason
for profound thankfulness to that God who has thus far so wisely and
graciously watched over our national progress, that he did not permit
its accomplishment. But we, who were actors on the stage at that time,
knowing how the principal actors in our national affairs, both civil
and military, had been schooled in self-sacrificing, patriotic devotion
to the institutions of our fathers, and their unfaltering purpose to
transmit them unimpaired to their children and children's children for
a perpetual inheritance, can but feel assured that even in the dire
extremity now under consideration they would have proven true to their
trust, and would have found a way to restore all of the machinery of
government provided for in the Constitution. The people are above the
Constitution even as the maker is above the thing made.

The rebel armies had been so completely overcome that they could no
longer have formed even a nucleus around which the traitors in the
North could have organized an opposition that could have been regarded
with other than feelings of contempt by our victorious hosts. The time
had passed; the opportunity was gone. No wonder the conspirators in
Canada gnashed their teeth with rage and disappointment because "the
boys had not been allowed to act when they wanted to." They had amongst
their many schemes concocted during the summer of 1864, such as making
raids, liberating rebel prisoners of war held in Northern prisons,
burning cities, spreading pestilence, and poisoning reservoirs, been
led also to consider this scheme of assassinations. All of these things
were to be done in aid of the rebellion.

As their cause became desperate on account of the continued success
of our arms, so did they become desperate in planning to retrieve. As
early as January, 1865, they received a communication from Jefferson
Davis suggesting these things and urging them to stop at nothing,
however desperate, and plainly intimating that Lincoln ought not to
be allowed to live; but it was not until the latter part of March,
1865, that they were prepared to present to him a definitely-prepared
plan for the accomplishment of their purposes that he could accept and
sanction. They had thus been long delayed, and now they were compelled
to realize that their work was a failure. No wonder that they all, from
Jefferson Davis down, felt and expressed grievous disappointment. It
reminds us of Milton's description of the malignant schemes, failures,
disappointments, and rage of the Prince of Devils in his contests with
the Almighty.




CHAPTER V.

UNRAVELLING THE PLOT.--PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF BOOTH AND HEROLD.--DEATH
OF BOOTH.


The most active measures were at once resorted to by the government
to discover the conspirators, and to capture all who could be found
of those engaged in it. The civil and military police, as also those
engaged in the secret service of the government, were at once set to
work. It was soon learned that Booth and a co-conspirator, which proved
to be Herold, had passed over the navy-yard bridge, on horseback, very
shortly after the hour at which the fatal shot had been fired, and
were fleeing toward Surrattsville and Bryantown in Maryland. They had
been allowed to pass by the sentinel at the bridge, having represented
themselves as citizens on their way to their homes. Booth was first
at the bridge, and gave his true name to the sentinel, saying that he
lived close to Beautown. Five minutes later Herold came and gave his
name as Smith, saying that he lived at White Plains and was on his way
home. Having gotten safely on the road, they directly joined company,
and pushed on rapidly, arriving at Surrattsville about midnight.

Stopping at Lloyd's tavern in Surrattsville, Herold dismounted and
went into the house, saying to Lloyd, "For God's sake, make haste
and get those things!" Lloyd, understanding what he wanted from the
notification given him by Mrs. Surratt on the evening previous, without
making any reply, went and got the carbines, which he had placed in
his bedroom that they might be handy, and brought them to Herold,
together with the ammunition and field-glass that had been deposited
with him, and the two bottles of whiskey that Booth had ordered through
Mrs. Surratt the evening before. Herold carried out to Booth one of
the bottles of whiskey, drinking from his own bottle in the house
before going out. Booth declined taking his carbine, saying his leg was
broken and he could not carry it. As they were about leaving, Booth
said to Lloyd, "I will tell you some news if you want to hear it"; and
then went on to say, "I am pretty certain that we have assassinated
the President and Secretary Seward." The moon was now up and shining
brightly, and the two confessed criminals resumed their flight. The
next heard of them was at the house of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, near
Bryantown, in Maryland, and about thirty miles from Washington, where
they arrived at about four o'clock on the morning of the 15th, having
travelled at the rate of six miles per hour.

[Illustration: MAP OF BOOTH'S ROUTE.]

Booth's leg had been broken by a fracture of the fibula, or small bone
of the leg, when he fell on the stage on leaping from the President's
box, and by this time had become very painful. He greatly needed
the support of a splint, and quiet as well. He was in a position,
however, to get neither; for although he had reached the house of a
co-conspirator, who was a country doctor, and well disposed to render
him all the aid he could, he appears to have made a very bungling
out, dressing the broken limb with some pasteboard and a bandage that
gave but a very imperfect support. As to the rest he required, that
was impossible, for although Mudd placed him in an upstairs room and
kept him until the afternoon, they were admonished by seeing a squad
of soldiers under Lieutenant Dana passing down past Mudd's place,
which was a quarter of a mile off the road to Bryantown, that there
was no rest for the wicked; and as quickly as it could be done after
the soldiers passed, Mudd got rid of his dangerous charge by sending
them by an unfrequented route to the house of his friend and neighbor,
Samuel Cox, about six miles nearer to the Potomac. Booth was on no new
ground, neither amongst strangers either to his person or to his wicked
purpose. He had spent a good deal of his time during the previous
fall in that part of Maryland, preparing a way for his escape after
accomplishing his purpose. His way had seemed clear to him in advance;
his route had been selected; his friendly acquaintanceships secured.
But, alas! the broken leg. Under the guise of looking at the country
with a desire to purchase lands, he had perfected all his arrangements,
and had expected to pass swiftly over his route, accompanied by
Atzerodt (whose home was in this neighborhood, and who knew all about
the contraband trade with the rebel capital, the underground mail
route between Richmond and Washington, and all of the people engaged
in these operations, and also the place and facilities for crossing
the Potomac), and also by Payne and Herold. He had purposed to be safe
on the soil of the Old Dominion e'er this time. Instead of realizing
all this, he found himself a cripple, scarcely able to travel, and
closely pursued by those whom he knew to be on his trail, with no other
companion than his devoted but inefficient friend, Herold; and thus he
was compelled to realize that

        "The best laid schemes o' mice and men
          Gang aft aglee;
        And lea' us nought but grief and pain
          For promised joy."

Mudd had done all he could to relieve him, but dare not try to conceal
and keep him. He could only forward him to the next stage of his
journey and to a safe place of concealment. This he faithfully did.
Cox lived near Port Tobacco, the home of Atzerodt; and as his was too
public a place to afford safety to the fugitives, he turned them over
to his neighbor, Thomas Jones, a contraband trader between Maryland
and Richmond, who, in the midst of a constant scouring of the country
by pursuing parties, kept his charge concealed in the woods near his
house, supplying them with food and doing everything he could for their
comfort, waiting and watching constantly to find an opportunity to get
them across the Potomac. They were hunted so closely that they could
hear the neighing of the horses of the troopers, and fearing they might
be betrayed by their horses answering the calls, Herold led them into a
swamp near where they lay concealed in the pines and shot them.

The river was being continually patroled by gun-boats, and the task of
getting his wards across proved both difficult and dangerous to Jones.
The proclamation of the Secretary of War, offering one hundred thousand
dollars for the capture of Booth, and warning all persons from aiding
the fugitives in any way in making their escape, had been published
broadcast, yet Jones was true to his trust. Neither the offered rewards
nor the warnings of the proclamation had any effect on him; but for a
whole week he kept them secreted in the pines on his premises, where
Booth lay night and day wrapped in a pair of blankets that had most
likely been furnished him by Dr. Mudd. Finally, being furnished by
Jones with a boat, they took their own risks and effected a crossing;
but they were seen by a colored man, upon whose report General Baker
got on their track and finally effected their capture.

There can be no doubt that Booth had selected this as the route for
his escape months before, and that all of his visits to this part of
Maryland had been made with reference to this plan. Being at length
across the Potomac, even though under such unfavorable auspices, Booth
no doubt drew a free and exultant breath at having been permitted to
set his foot at last on the soil of the Old Dominion. He felt that he
was now amongst friends who would aid him in his progress, or help
him by concealment, as the case might require; and his friend Jones
no doubt breathed with a freedom he had not known for some days at
finding himself cut loose from his dangerous charge. Booth was greatly
disappointed at the cold reception given him by the people on whom he
had counted so much after crossing into Virginia. He had expected to
be lionized and honored as the hero of the age; but instead of that he
received a comparatively cold reception that stung his vanity like the
poison of an asp.

[Illustration: DAVID E. HEROLD.]

It is true the people showed no disposition to betray him; but, at the
same time, they manifested a disposition to enter into no compromising
friendship with him, or in any way to assume any responsibility in his
behalf by helping him to escape. How much of this was due to abhorrence
of his crime, and how much to a dread of consequences, can only be
a matter of conjecture. The fact that they were willing to let him
escape, if he could, would throw the preponderance on the latter as the
governing motive of their conduct. Sad, indeed, was Booth's condition
at this time. More than a week had elapsed since he had perpetrated
his great crime and commenced his guilty flight; and now he found
himself on foot, so lame as scarcely to be able to walk a step, even
with the help of a crutch, and scarcely more than fifty miles from
his starting point. His companion in crime, Herold, was now the only
human being on whose friendship and fidelity he could certainly rely. A
reward of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars offered for his
capture, the brand of Cain upon him, his fractured bone cutting into
the flesh at every movement of his limb,--a constant admonition of a
frowning Providence,--it is no wonder that the diurnal entries in his
book begin to bear evidence of a remorse that can never be appeased.
We can but pity his deplorable condition, for he was a fellow-man; but
then he was at the same time a monster in crime, directed by hatred of
a fellow-man without just cause, and of wickedness that had brought
upon him the blood of one of the greatest and best of men, not only
of his own age and country, but of all the ages of the world. When we
contemplate his crime, our sympathies refuse to go with him, and our
sense of justice finds a grateful feeling of relief in the evidence now
clearly pointing to the fact that he is a doomed man.

By the aid of his blind follower, Herold, he is able to maintain his
concealment, and after a wretched fashion to resume his flight in an
old wagon drawn by two miserable horses and driven by a negro. In this
state he reaches Port Conway, on the Rappahannock, in King George
County, Virginia. Here his driver refuses to take him any further. It
is just at this juncture and in this dilemma that they are met by three
confederate soldiers, Major Ruggles, Lieutenant Bainbridge, and Captain
William Jett, the latter of Moseby's command.

Herold, thinking they were recruiting for the rebel service, was quick
to see in them a means of assistance in getting South, and under the
protection of the stars and bars, and so revealed their identity,
appealing to them for assistance. A little later, Booth, getting out
of the wretched conveyance, came forward, and to assure himself of
their disposition toward him, accosted them with the interrogatory, "I
suppose you have been told who we are?" then, throwing himself back
on his crutch, and straightening himself up, with pistol cocked and
drawn, he said, "Yes, I am Wilkes Booth, the slayer of Abraham Lincoln,
and I am worth just one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars to
the man that captures me." His attitude and speech was that of a man at
bay, under the power of a desperate purpose never to be taken alive.
These three officers of the confederate army (for they were such at
this time, not having been paroled), whilst mildly protesting that they
did not sanction his acts as an assassin, assured him that they did not
want any blood money, and promised to render him all the assistance
in their power in making his escape, a promise which they faithfully
kept. Major Ruggles dismounted and placed Booth on his horse, when
the whole party crossed over the Rappahannock, from Port Conway, in
King George, to Port Royal, in Caroline County, Virginia, and after an
ineffectual effort to find quarters for Booth in the town, they took
him three miles on the road to Bowling Green, the county seat of the
latter county, where they succeeded in getting a man by the name of
Garrett to take him in, with the understanding that he would do all he
could for his comfort and safety. Garrett took Booth and Herold in with
a full knowledge of all the facts in the case, and with some manifest
reluctance from a knowledge of the danger he would thus incur.

Bainbridge and Herold went on to Bowling Green, whilst Ruggles and Jett
remained over night in the woods near the house, Booth being hid away
on the premises and cared for. On the following day Captain Jett went
to Bowling Green on a visit, prompted by the tender passion, where he
intended to remain a few days; and Lieutenant Bainbridge returned to
the Garrett farm, where he rejoined Major Ruggles. The two started for
Port Conway, but before getting there, learned that the town was full
of Yankee cavalry, when they lost no time in returning to Garrett's,
and gave warning to Booth, advising him to lose no time in fleeing to a
piece of woods, which they pointed out to him, and then turned to look
out for their own safety. The cavalry of which they got this notice was
a squad detailed from the Sixteenth New York Regiment, commanded by
Lieutenant Dougherty, which had been ordered to report to General L.
C. Baker of the Secret Service Department, and by him placed in charge
of E. J. Conger and L. B. Baker, officers belonging to his detective
force.

Arriving at Port Conway on the afternoon of the day subsequent to the
crossing of the parties above referred to, and finding the wife of the
ferry keeper at the ferry-house sitting and conversing with another
women, Colonel Conger exhibited to them a photograph of Booth, and
informed them that that was the man they wanted. It at once became
apparent to him, from the manner and actions of the woman, that Booth
was not far off. The ferryman, a man by the name of Rollins, was sent
for, and being influenced no doubt by fear of compromising himself he
became very communicative. He told them all about the party that had
crossed the day before, one of whom, Captain Jett, he knew well; and
knowing that Jett had been paying attention to a Miss Goldman, the
daughter of a Bowling Green hotel keeper, he suggested that he would
most probably be found there. Colonel Conger pushed on with his squad
of cavalry, commanded by Captain, then Lieutenant, E. P. Dougherty, to
Bowling Green, passing the Garrett farm after dark.

Arriving at Goldman's Hotel, he inquired of Mrs. Goldman as to the men
that were in the house. She answered him that her wounded son was in
a room upstairs, and that he was all the man there was there. Colonel
Conger then required her to lead the way upstairs, telling her at the
same time that if his men were fired on he would burn the building and
carry its inmates to Washington as prisoners. As he entered the room
which she showed him, up one flight of stairs, Captain Jett jumped out
of bed half-dressed, and admitted his identity. Colonel Conger then
informed him that he was cognizant of his movements for the last two
days, and proceeded to read to him the proclamation of the Secretary
of War, telling him when he had done reading it that if he did not
tell him the truth he would hang him; but that if he truly gave him
the information that he sought he would protect him. Jett was greatly
excited, and told him that he had left Booth at the Garrett Farm, three
miles from Port Royal. The Colonel then had Jett's horse taken from
the stable, making Jett his unwilling guide to the place of Booth's
concealment.

Arriving at Garrett's, the cavalry was so disposed of as to prevent
any one from escaping, and after having extorted, by threats, the
information that Booth and Herold were concealed in the barn, it
was at once surrounded. They were ordered to come out and surrender
themselves, which Booth refused to do. After a considerable parley,
Herold came to the door and gave himself up. He was followed by the
maledictions of Booth, who accused him of cowardly unfaithfulness in
thus deserting him. Booth still refusing to surrender, a wisp of hay
was fired and thrown in on the hay in the barn. From this start the
barn was soon lighted up with the flames of the burning hay. Booth
was known to be armed and desperate, and as the burning hay began to
illuminate the barn he was seen, carbine in hand, peering through the
cracks, and trying to get an aim. He had before offered to fight the
crowd for a chance of his life if the Colonel would but withdraw his
men one hundred yards. Being answered that they had come to capture
him, not to fight, he was preparing to sell his life as dearly as
possible. At this moment, Sergeant Boston Corbett, of the Sixteenth
New York Cavalry, fired at Booth through a crack in the barn, upon his
own responsibility, and struck him on the back part of his head, very
nearly in the same part where his own ball had struck the President,
only a little lower down, and passing obliquely through the base of
the brain and upper part of the spinal cord; it produced instantly
almost complete paralysis of every muscle in his body below the seat
of the wound, the nerves of organic life only sufficing to keep up a
very difficult and imperfect respiration, and a feeble action of the
heart for a few hours, when, with the coming of the morning of the
26th of April, 1865, twelve days after the commission of his crime and
commencement of his flight, the malefactor expired. He was perfectly
clear in his mind, but could not swallow, and was scarcely able to
articulate so as to be understood, although he seemed anxious to talk.
He requested the officer, who was waiting over him and trying to
minister to him, to tell his mother that he died for his country. Thus
was avenged, not the loyal North alone, but the cause of justice, the
cause of freedom, the cause of humanity. Amongst the articles found on
his person the most important as bearing on the conspiracy in which he
was engaged was a bill of exchange, as follows:--

    No. 1492.
    Stamp.

    THE ONTARIO BANK,
    MONTREAL BRANCH.

    _Exchange for £61 12s. 10d._

        MONTREAL, 27th October, 1864.

    Sixty days after sight of this first exchange (second and
    third of same tenor and date unpaid) pay to the order of J.
    Wilkes Booth sixty-one pounds, twelve shillings, and ten pence
    sterling. Value received and charge to account of this office.

    To Messrs. GLYNN, MILLS & CO., London.

        [Signed]
          H. STANUS, _Manager_.

The body was brought to Washington and identified fully. It was buried,
for the time secretly, under the floor of the old Capitol Prison, but
afterwards was given up to his friends.

Major Ruggles, in his account of his connection with Booth in his
flight, gives it as his opinion that he was not shot, as claimed, by
Sergeant Corbett, but that seeing escape hopeless, and knowing death
to be his fate, he took his own life, holding his pistol to the back
of his head; and in support of this opinion refers to the fact that
one chamber of his revolver was found to be empty. He also advances
the opinion that had the war still been going on, and Booth had made
his escape into the confederate lines, the rebel government would have
arrested him and delivered him up to the United States authorities.
In this opinion, he takes a charitable view of the virtue and moral
integrity of the Richmond government which I shall hereafter show is
not warranted by the facts and evidence in the case. In this opinion
he is also giving that government credit for a degree of virtue and
integrity in striking contrast with the conduct of himself and his
companions, who hurriedly entered into a friendly compact with the
assassins, knowing them to be such, pledging fidelity and assistance to
the full extent of their ability under the circumstances in which they
were placed, thus morally and legally making themselves accomplices
after the fact.[2]




CHAPTER VI.

UNRAVELLING THE CONSPIRACY.

_Arrest of Spangler, O'Laughlin, Atzerodt, Mudd, and Arnold._


Not only was the government bending every energy to overtake and
capture Booth and Herold, but also to find out who were their
co-conspirators. It undertook a systematic investigation of Booth's
haunts, associations, habits, and employment during the recent past.
Hotel registers were overhauled, liverymen interviewed, and each clue
followed up, so that in a short time enough was known to lead to the
arrest of Edward Spangler, Michael O'Laughlin, George A. Atzerodt,
Samuel Arnold, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, in addition to those heretofore
spoken of as having been arrested. By this time the evidence in
possession of the government made it clear that what had occurred was
but a partial accomplishment of a great conspiracy, which had its
origin with the agents of the rebel government in Canada; and that its
execution had been entrusted to John Wilkes Booth and John H. Surratt,
as leaders, and to such assistants as they should select and employ.

[Illustration: EDWARD SPANGLER]

It was soon discovered that Booth's intimate associates, with whom he
held private confidential intercourse, were John H. Surratt, and his
mother, Mary E. Surratt, Lewis Payne, George A. Atzerodt, Dr. Samuel
A. Mudd, David E. Herold, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlin; and
that the house of Mrs. Surratt was the headquarters of the conspirators
in Washington. Arnold and O'Laughlin were intimate personal friends
and associates of Booth at his home in Baltimore. Booth, Payne,
and Atzerodt were frequent callers at the house of Mrs. Surratt,
where they were always made welcome; their business was always of a
private, confidential nature, and was with John Surratt when he
was at home, but in his absence was with Mrs. Surratt herself. Booth
had every privilege granted to him in that house, his requests for a
private conference being always responded to by John or his mother.
To Booth it seemed to be a matter of indifference which of the two
it was. In tracing his movements the last few months preceding the
assassination, it soon became evident that he was acting under the
impulse of a purpose that had entire possession of his mind. Having
undertaken to secure the accomplishment of the assassinations planned
by Davis and his Canada Cabinet, in the latter part of October,
1864, he was constantly employed in making his preparations for the
fulfillment of his contract, and gave no time or thought, apparently,
to anything else. He entirely abandoned his profession, that of an
actor, and lost all interest in the stage. He no longer consorted
with those of his profession to any extent, except as it might be
in preparation for the work to which he had devoted his life, and
accepted, instead, the fellowship of such low-browed scoundrels as
Payne and Atzerodt as better suited to his purpose. They became
mere tools in his hands, sympathizing with him fully in his intense
disloyalty, but being actuated at the same time by a mercenary motive,
the evidence justifying the conclusion that they had a promise of a
large pecuniary reward. He spent a great deal of time with these men,
studying their characters, and schooling them in the parts they were
to act. They were all known to the liverymen of the city, of whom they
very frequently obtained horses to ride about the suburbs and study
the roads, that they might be thoroughly familiar with the locality
when the time should come for them to make their escape. They were all
known, also, to go constantly armed with revolvers and bowie-knives by
those who had opportunities of seeing them together in their private
intercourse. They boarded at different hotels, and frequently changed
their boarding-places, but were frequent visitors of each other at
whatever places they might be stopping, and their intercourse was
always observed to be that of privacy; and so it became a just cause
for suspicion to have been an intimate companion of Booth, and finally
led to the arrest of them all.

With regard to the relations existing between Booth and John H.
Surratt, and his mother, Mary E. Surratt, the evidence showed that they
would always retire to an upstairs room whenever a lengthy conference
was desired; but that they frequently held short private conferences
in the parlor, when it could be done without danger of interruption.
Booth's right to thus come into the house and demand these private
interviews was never questioned, but granted with the alacrity due to a
common purpose that required it.


_Foundation for the Arrest of Mrs. Surratt._

The agents of the government, in pursuing their investigations,
obtained evidence that Mrs. Surratt's house had been the meeting-place
or headquarters of the conspirators, and that she was in private,
confidential intercourse with Booth. One of the principal witnesses
against her was Louis J. Wiechmann, who had been for several months a
boarder in her house, and whose friendly relations with the family were
due to the fact that he had been a fellow-student with John H. Surratt
at St. Charles College, in Maryland, and to the further fact that they
were co-religionists. Wiechmann had been, during all this time that
he had been a boarder at Mrs. Surratt's, employed as a clerk in the
office of General Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisoners; and from
him the facts above alleged were learned. Wiechmann also stated that
Mrs. Surratt sent him to Booth with a message that she wanted to see
him on private business, and that Booth replied that he would come that
evening or as soon as he could, and that he did come that evening.

On the Tuesday previous to the assassination, Mrs. Surratt requested
Wiechmann to drive her down to Surrattsville, saying that she wanted to
see a Mr. Nothey who owed her some money. Upon his consenting to do so,
she sent him to the National Hotel to see Booth, and request the use of
his horse and buggy for the occasion. Booth said he had sold his horse
and buggy, but handed to Wiechmann ten dollars with which to procure
one. Wiechmann got a conveyance and drove Mrs. Surratt to Surrattsville
and back. As they were on their way down, they met Lloyd, to whom Mrs.
Surratt had rented her farm and tavern at Surrattsville. Mrs. Surratt
requested Wiechmann to stop; and Lloyd, stopping at the same time, got
out of his buggy and came close to Mrs. Surratt, who conversed with
him in so low a tone that Wiechmann did not hear what was said, but
Lloyd testified before the Commission that she told him to "have those
shooting-irons where they would be convenient, as they would be wanted
before long." The "shooting-irons" referred to were two carbines,
which, with ammunition, a monkey-wrench, and a piece of rope, had been
left with Lloyd by John H. Surratt, Herold, and Atzerodt about three
weeks before, with the request that he should keep them hid, Surratt at
the same time showing him a safe place to secrete them. On the Friday
of the assassination, Mrs. Surratt requested Wiechmann to drive her
down to Surrattsville, alleging that she was going to see Mr. Nothey
again on the same business as before. She gave Wiechmann money to
procure a conveyance and he drove her down. Booth was with her in the
parlor when he returned with the conveyance, and when Mrs. Surratt was
about getting into the buggy, she requested Wiechmann to wait until
she went and got Mr. Booth's things. She went back into the parlor and
returned with a field-glass, which she delivered to Lloyd. They reached
Surrattsville about four o'clock. Mrs. Surratt then had Wiechmann sit
down and write a note to Mr. Nothey at her dictation, which she sent
to him by a Mr. Bennett Gwin. Lloyd had gone to Marlboro to court, and
Mrs. Surratt awaited his return which was not until about half-past
six o'clock. When Lloyd returned, he drove around into the back yard
to unload some fish and oysters which he had purchased, and Mrs.
Surratt, who had been waiting and watching for his return, seized this
opportunity to see him privately, when she told him, as Lloyd testified
before the Commission, to have the carbines ready, as they would be
called for that night, and also two bottles of whiskey. Then going with
him into the house, she gave him the field-glass.

She was now ready to return, and expressed anxiety to Wiechmann to
reach home before nine o'clock, saying that she had an engagement for
that hour. She reached her home just before nine, and a few moments
later Wiechmann, from his place at the table in the dining-room below,
heard the door-bell ring, and some one enter the parlor. The interview
was very short--just long enough for Mrs. Surratt to say that all was
right--when Wiechmann heard retreating footsteps, but did not know who
the visitor was. In view, however, of all the foregoing, we cannot
resist the conclusion that Booth was the person, and that this was
their last interview. Mrs. Surratt was able to produce the letter of
Mr. Calvert which she claimed required her to go to Surrattsville that
day to see Mr. Nothey, but she had no appointment to meet him there,
did not see him, and could just as well have written to him from her
home in Washington. This excuse for her visit was a mere fabrication.
Her real business was with Lloyd, and she was not ready to return
until after she had an interview with him, and delivered her message
from Booth, and the field-glass which he had given her. It is evident
that her show of private business was gotten up as a cover to her real
errand.

Again, Payne had visited the Surratt house on several occasions. The
first time he came he called for John H. Surratt, and on being told by
Wiechmann that John was not at home, he requested to see Mrs. Surratt.
He passed this time under the alias of Wood, and was received by Mrs.
Surratt, and kept over night, when he departed for Baltimore. About
three weeks later, say about the 20th of March (as his first visit was
about the 1st of March), he made his second visit, passing under the
name of Payne, and remained three days. It was during this visit that
the episode already referred to as having in all probability been an
attempt to murder the President on his visit to the Soldier's Home,
occurred, and from which Surratt, Booth, and Payne returned under such
excitement and evident disappointment.

[Illustration: LEWIS PAYNE.]

To such members of the family as had not been initiated into the plot,
this man of many aliases--Wood, Payne, and Powell--passed as a Baptist
preacher. He said that he had taken the oath whilst in Baltimore, and
intended henceforth to be a good, loyal man. When this man came to the
house of Mrs. Surratt on the night of the 17th of April, as heretofore
related, and was placed under arrest, Mrs. Surratt, who had also upon
a knowledge of the facts just recited been arrested a few minutes
before, when she was called into the hall and confronted with Payne,
having heard his story as to why he had come and what he had come for,
holding up her hands exclaimed, "Before God, I do not know this man,
and never saw him before." He had been a guest at her table for three
days only a few days previous to this, and was a man of such a marked
personality that having seen him once it would have been impossible to
have failed to recognize him on seeing him again, even though he might
have been partially disguised. With a woman's intuitive perception, she
saw the compromising effect that his visit at that time of night, and
under such circumstances, was calculated to have on her own case, and
so felt the necessity of this solemn disavowal of any knowledge of him.
Before the government felt justified in arresting this woman, only,
indeed, two or three hours after the assassination, it being known that
Booth was the assassin, and that he and John H. Surratt were intimate
friends, the detectives went to the house of Mrs. Surratt to see whom
they could find there. When they rang the bell Wiechmann, who occupied
an upstairs room, opened the window and inquired what they wanted. Upon
their demanding admittance, stating that they had been sent to that
house to see whom they could find in it, Wiechmann went and rapped at
Mrs. Surratt's door, informing her who it was that demanded admittance,
and asking her if he should let them in, when she replied, "Yes, let
them in; I have been expecting them." Now, why should Mrs. Surratt at
that hour, about three o'clock on the morning of the 15th, and only
three or four hours after the assassination, have been expecting a
visit from the detectives? A guilty conscience is its own accuser.

As Wiechmann and Lloyd were the principal witnesses against Mrs.
Surratt, and their evidence so conclusively established her guilt,
her counsel made an effort to discredit their testimony, but utterly
failed to do so. Wiechmann was a young man who established a good
character for veracity and general moral deportment by witnesses who
had been intimately associated with him for months in General Hoffman's
department. His manner was that of a man who was deeply affected by the
fact that he found himself in a situation in which his duty to his God
and his country required him to state facts that had been thrust upon
him, and that were now found to be so damaging to those with whom he
had been associating and whom he had regarded as friends. The attempt
made by counsel for the defense in their arguments to break the force
of his testimony by throwing out the unfounded insinuation that he
probably knew of the existence of the conspiracy, was done for the
purpose of engendering a doubt of the simple truth of his utterances
which were corroborated by other testimony than his own, and of which
he could have had no previous knowledge. Wiechmann's testimony, taking
into consideration the lies told to him and the deceptions practiced
upon him for nearly four months, is in itself absolute proof of his
integrity and of his innocence. In the words of Judge Bingham in
all that dread issue, "There was not a breath of suspicion found
against his character, nor was a single fact to which he testified
contradicted. The defense tried to kill him off with lies and
insinuations, but they could not and did not do it." Wiechmann admitted
that he had been puzzled to account for some of these occurrences. He
could not understand why such persons as Payne and Atzerodt should be
received and enjoy the privileges accorded to them by Mrs. Surratt
and her son; but particularly he had had his suspicions aroused by
the conduct of Surratt, Payne, and Booth upon their return from their
ride as heretofore recited. He had related this occurrence to Captain
Gleason, an officer with whom he was associated in his daily work. He
referred to a report or rumor, which had found its way into the papers,
of a plot to capture the President, and asked the Captain if he thought
it could be possible that this could have been the object of their
expedition. Wiechmann's character and actions in the matter could not
be discredited by insinuations that had no evidence to rest on for
their support.

Lloyd had rented Mrs. Surratt's farm and tavern at Surrattsville,
and so was her tenant. He was a man of intemperate habits, and there
was, I think, taking all things into consideration, strong reason to
conclude that he had been entrusted with the secret of the plot; but
of this there was no direct proof, and much less of his having been
any further a party to the conspiracy. Even admitting that he had this
guilty knowledge, it does not disqualify him for telling the truth
as to what occurred at the private interviews referred to between
himself and Mrs. Surratt, and that these private interviews did take
place under the circumstances already related we have the positive
testimony of Wiechmann. Lloyd's testimony was drawn out of him by
questions suggested by what Wiechmann had previously stated before the
Commission. The defense failed entirely to prove that he was a man not
to be believed upon his oath.

They endeavored to break the force of the testimony of Major Smith in
regard to Mrs. Surratt solemnly disclaiming any knowledge of Payne by
claiming that her eyesight was very defective, but failed to establish
any evidence of infirmity of sight beyond what was common to a person
of her age of forty-five years.

The evidence of Major Smith was that the hall was well lighted when she
was confronted with Payne, and her haste to disavow any knowledge of
him with such unnecessary solemnity was itself evidence of guilt. Her
eminent volunteer counsel, Hon. Reverdy Johnson, at that time a United
States senator from Maryland, did not attempt to assail the testimony
against her or to make any reference whatever to her case; but confined
himself to an argument against the constitutionality of her trial by
a military commission and against the jurisdiction of the court. In
view of all the facts above narrated, all of which were proven by the
witnesses brought before the Commission by the government, the author
thinks it would be impossible for any candid mind to escape from the
conclusion that Mrs. Surratt was fully informed of the purposes of
Booth and her son, and gave to them her hearty approval and earnest
co-operation. We have now presented in narrative form the evidence on
which Mrs. Surratt was found guilty and sentenced by the Commission
to be hung. Her case was evidently one of those deplorable cases, of
which the rebellion furnished so many examples, of a woman so entirely
under the influence of disloyalty to her government and so desirous
of its overthrow, that she was ready to resort to any means whatever
to accomplish that purpose, and so entered heart and soul into the
schemes of Booth and her son, hoping thereby to serve the cause of the
confederacy.


_Arrest of Atzerodt._

George A. Atzerodt had undertaken for his part the assassination of
Vice-President Johnson. He was found to have been a frequent visitor at
the Surratt house, and a boon companion of Payne, Surratt, and Booth.
It was found that he had taken a room at the Kirkwood House where the
Vice-President was stopping at the time. He had been assigned to room
number 126, on the next floor above that on which was the room occupied
by the Vice-President. He had been stopping at the Pennsylvania House
from the 27th of March until the 12th of April, and took this room
at the Kirkwood House on the morning of the 14th of April, paying in
advance for one day. On the 12th of April he visited this house, and
meeting Col. W. R. Nevins in the passage leading to the dining-room, he
asked him if he knew where Vice-President Johnson was. Nevins showed
him the Vice-President's room, but remarked, "He is now at dinner,"
pointing him out to Atzerodt as he sat at the table. Atzerodt did not
enter the dining-room, but simply looked in at the Vice-President. It
was ascertained that Atzerodt had not occupied his room on the night
of the 14th, and when the detectives who were on his track came to
the Kirkwood House on the afternoon of the 15th, it was found locked,
and the door had to be forced. Mr. Lee, the officer in pursuit of
him, found in his room, upon gaining admission, a black coat hanging
against the wall; underneath the pillow or bolster a revolver loaded
and capped, and between the sheets and mattress a large bowie-knife.
In the pockets of the coat were found a handkerchief marked "Mary R.
Booth," another marked "F. M.," or "F. A. Nelson," and another marked
"H," in one corner; also a bank-book of J. Wilkes Booth, showing a
credit of four hundred and fifty-five dollars with the Ontario Bank of
Montreal, and a map of Virginia. On the corner of the bank-book was
written "J. W. Booth, 53." On the inside of the book, "Mr. J. Wilkes
Booth, in account with the Ontario Bank of Montreal, Canada, 1864,
October 27; by deposit Cr. $455." This coat evidently belonged to
Booth, and its being thus found in Atzerodt's room showed that Booth
had visited him there during the day; and that he had spent some time
with him schooling him in his part was shown by the fact that he had
taken off his light overcoat and hung it up against the wall, and had
evidently become so much absorbed in mind with the purpose of his visit
that he forgot to take his coat when he left. The revolver loaded and
capped, and the huge bowie-knife hidden in the bed, serve to explain
the nature of the interview between Booth and Atzerodt, and the purpose
of death to the Vice-President on the part of the former, and in which
purpose at that time Atzerodt no doubt fully concurred. During the
stay of Atzerodt at the Pennsylvania House he was frequently called on
by Booth, and they were at pains always to hold their interviews in
private.

Atzerodt's whereabouts from the 12th to the 14th of April are not
accounted for. On the 14th, after having taken his room at the
Kirkwood, we next find him at a livery-stable on Eighth and E streets,
where he procured a bay mare, paying five dollars for her hire for the
afternoon. He took her to Naylor's stable and had her put up. Here he
was accompanied by Herold. It was about one o'clock P.M. when
he had his mare put up. He left and did not return until about seven
P.M. On his return he ordered his mare to be saddled, and
requested that she should be left standing with the saddle and bridle
on until ten o'clock, when he would call for her. He returned at ten,
got his mare, and left. He returned the mare to the stable on Eighth
and E streets shortly after the assassination of the President, at
about eleven o'clock.

After returning the mare, he boarded a navy-yard car at Sixth Street,
and rode down as far as the navy-yard. Finding a man by the name of
Briscoe on the car, with whom he was acquainted, he asked him to let
him sleep with him in his store. Being refused, he urged his request,
and seemed excited. Briscoe asked him if he had heard the news. He
replied that he had.

Not getting permission to lodge with Briscoe, he said he would return
to the Pennsylvania House, which he did, arriving there on horseback
about twelve M. or one o'clock A.M. He asked the colored boy in waiting
at the house to hold his horse whilst he went into the bar. He then
mounted his horse and left, returning again at about two o'clock on
foot, in company with another man. They paid for their lodging and
retired. Atzerodt, on being requested by the clerk to register before
retiring to his room, hesitated, and did it with manifest reluctance.
These parties arose very early on the morning of the 15th, and left.
At about eight o'clock on the morning of the 15th, we find Atzerodt in
Georgetown trying to sell his watch to a man with whom he was somewhat
acquainted; but not being able to do so, he pawned his pistol for ten
dollars, saying he was going to the country and would come, or send,
and redeem it the next week. He was followed and arrested in Montgomery
County, Maryland, on the 20th of April.

He ate his dinner on the 16th at the house of Mr Hezekiah Metz. There
were two or three other persons at the table with him, and all were
anxious to hear the news from Washington. He was asked whether it was
true, as had been reported in that neighborhood, that General Grant
had been killed. Atzerodt, according to the testimony of Metz, replied
that "if the man who was to follow him had done so it was likely to
be true." There was some conflict of statement, however, between Metz
and the other two parties who were at the table, and who were used as
witnesses for the defense. These thought he said if it were so, it was
likely to have been done by some one who got on the train with him.
There are good reasons, however, for concluding that Metz gave his real
answer.

Atzerodt was known in that neighborhood as Andrew Atwood. From Metz's
he went to the house of his cousin, Hartman Richter, near the little
village of Germantown, and remained there until he was arrested by
Sergeant L. W. Grimmell on the night of the 20th. Richter denied that
there was anybody in his house when inquired of by the Sergeant.
When told by the Sergeant that he would have to search the house, he
admitted that his cousin was upstairs in bed. His wife then spoke up,
saying, "there were three men there for that matter." Atzerodt was
brought to Washington and held as a prisoner for trial, as a party to
the conspiracy. There is no doubt from the evidence presented, that
he was not only a party to the conspiracy, but also that Booth had
arranged with him and relied on him to assassinate the Vice-President.
For this purpose he had removed him from the Pennsylvania to the
Kirkwood House, where the Vice-President had rooms, and was boarding.
This change had been made on the morning of the 14th, and Booth
had been there during the day to see that all things were properly
arranged. Atzerodt's revolver was found hidden away in his bed, loaded,
capped, and ready for use. His bowie-knife also was found secreted in
his bed; and yet there is no evidence that he was in his room, or even
in the house during the evening or night. In his defense his counsel
set up the plea, and proved it, that he was incapable of committing
such a crime, being constitutionally a coward. He was a low-browed,
vulgar vagabond, fond of whiskey, tobacco, and vicious company; a
cowardly braggart, covering up his cowardice by a great pretense of
bravery when the battle was not on; low enough in moral tone to do any
wicked thing, but without physical courage to face the danger connected
with what he had engaged to do. Booth had mistaken his man; but being a
member of the conspiracy, he was equally guilty with Booth.


_Arrest of Spangler._

On the strength of the facts incidentally presented in the foregoing
narrative, Edward Spangler was taken into military custody, and held
as a prisoner for trial. The capture of Herold has already been given.
All of these prisoners were held in military custody, and under such
precautions as would have rendered any attempt at rescue or escape the
height of folly.

In Booth's trunk a letter was found from Samuel Arnold to Booth,
dated at Hookstown, Md., March 27th, 1865. This letter was signed
simply "Sam," but was proved to be in Arnold's handwriting, and led
not only to his own arrest, but also to that of his friend and fellow
conspirator, Michael O'Laughlin. Arnold had evidently fallen into a
hesitating frame of mind. I feel that I cannot do better than to give
this letter entire. It is as follows:--

        HOOKSTOWN, BALTIMORE CO., March 27, 1865.

    DEAR JOHN:--Was business so important that you could
    not remain in Baltimore until I saw you? I came in as soon as I
    could, but found you had gone to Washington. I called also on
    Mike, but learned from his mother that he had gone out with you
    and had not returned. I concluded, therefore, that he had gone
    with you. How inconsiderate you have been! When I left you,
    you stated you would not meet me in a month or so. Therefore,
    I made application for employment, an answer to which I shall
    receive during the week. I told my parents I had ceased with
    you. Can I, then, under existing circumstances, come as you
    request? You know full well that the government suspicions
    something is going on there; therefore the undertaking is
    becoming more complicated. Why not, for the present, desist,
    for various reasons which, if you look into, you can readily
    see, without my making any mention thereof. You, nor any
    one, can censure me for my present course. You have been its
    cause, for how can I come now after telling them I had left
    you? Suspicion rests upon me now from my whole family and even
    parties in the country. I will be compelled to leave home any
    how, and how soon I care not. None, no, not one, were more
    in favor of the enterprise than myself, and to-day would be
    there had you not done as you have: by this I mean, manner
    of proceeding. I am, as you well know, in need. I am, as you
    may say, in rags; whereas to-day I ought to be well clothed.
    I do not feel right stalking about with means, and more from
    appearances a beggar. I feel my dependence: but even all this
    would be and was forgotten, for I was one with you. Time more
    propitious will arrive yet. Do not act rashly or in haste. I
    prefer your first query: go and see how it will be taken at
    R----d, and e'er long I shall be better prepared to again be
    with you. I dislike writing,--would sooner verbally make known
    my views,--yet your non-writing causes me thus to proceed. Do
    not in anger peruse this. Weigh all I have said, and, as a
    rational man and a friend, you cannot censure or upbraid my
    conduct. I sincerely trust this, or aught else that shall or
    may occur, will never be an obstacle to obliterate our former
    friendship and attachment. Write me to Baltimore, as I expect
    to be in about Wednesday or Thursday, or, if you can possibly
    come on, I will Tuesday meet you in Baltimore at B----. Ever I
    subscribe myself,

        Your friend,
          SAM.

Arnold got employment at Fortress Monroe, and was there at the time
of the assassination; but the finding of the above letter in Booth's
trunk, as also other evidence constantly turning up in the course of
the investigations being made, identifying him with the conspiracy,
led to his arrest on the 17th of April at Fortress Monroe. Arnold,
when arrested, made a partial confession, relating the circumstances
of a meeting of some of the conspirators held at the Lichau House in
Washington about three weeks previous to his going to Fortress Monroe.

[Illustration: SAMUEL ARNOLD.]

This meeting must have occurred within two or three days after the
writing of the above letter, immediately before Surratt's visit to
Richmond, and was attended by Booth, Surratt, O'Laughlin, Atzerodt,
Arnold, a man with the alias of Moseby, and another whose name he could
not recollect. He denied that he had ever corresponded with Booth, but
on being informed of the letter found in Booth's trunk he admitted that
he wrote it. He also stated that Booth had letters of introduction to
Dr. Mudd and Dr. Queen, but said he did not know from whom Booth got
them. He claimed that an angry discussion took place at the meeting
referred to. He said he told Booth then that if the thing did not take
place that week he would withdraw. Booth got angry at that, and said
he ought to be shot for talking in that way. He said that he replied
to Booth that two could play at that game; and that he withdrew from
the conspiracy at that time, and occupied his position at Fortress
Monroe on the 1st of April. It is evident, I think, that as he began to
contemplate the hazards of the enterprise, its dangers began to be more
and more apparent to him. His heart failed him, and he was anxious for
an excuse to withdraw from it, but had not the courage to peremptorily
do so. This is the interpretation I put upon the above letter--of the
altercation between him and Booth, and of his going to Fortress Monroe.

There is also apparent in the letter a shade of disappointment and
dissatisfaction in regard to pecuniary matters, implying that promised
reward had been withheld by Booth. Early in September, whilst at a
grain threshing, Arnold received a letter containing a fifty-dollar
bill. Reading the letter and showing it with the money to a companion,
he remarked that "he was flush." He handed the letter to his friend to
read, but he, after trying to read a few lines, and finding that he
could not understand it on account of its ambiguity, handed it back
to Arnold, asking him what it meant. Arnold replied that something
big would be seen in the papers one of these days. This was no doubt
a retainer's fee, or in other words, an advance payment from Booth.
The rather complaining tone of Arnold's letter, hinting at pecuniary
embarrassment, would seem to indicate that Booth's promises of
pecuniary reward had been large, whilst his fulfillment had been far
from satisfactory.

This, amongst other considerations to be named, had evidently cooled
Arnold's ardor in the prosecution of the plot, and was the cause of his
disposition to withdraw from it.

The probabilities are that his parents and friends suspecting that his
intimacy with Booth foreboded evil, and probably suspecting something
of his purpose, had so earnestly remonstrated with him as to cause
him to stagger or falter in his purpose, and made him anxious for an
excuse for breaking with Booth. He perhaps began to regard Booth's
plan as quixotic and impracticable, full of hazard, and not likely to
succeed. In fact, he stated that he so told Booth at this meeting. He
was evidently restive, and thought it had been put off too long to
effect the end contemplated. It does not appear to have been from any
awakening of his moral nature that he faltered, neither from cowardice
that he weakened; and so he failed to purge himself of complicity in
Booth's guilt. But there was sufficient evidence of his desire to
withdraw from any part in the execution of Booth's present purposes
to extenuate his guilt in a measure, at least, in the judgment of the
Commission.


_Arrest of O'Laughlin._

Arnold's letter to Booth on the 27th of March, which was found in
Booth's trunk, together with evidence gathered up on every hand as
the investigation proceeded, led to the arrest of Michael O'Laughlin
at the house of his brother-in-law, in Baltimore, on Monday, the 17th
of April, the same day on which Arnold was arrested. When arrested he
seemed to understand what it was for, not asking any questions about
it. He had gone to Washington on the 13th and remained until Saturday,
the 15th. On returning to Baltimore on Saturday night, he was met at
the depot by his brother-in-law, who told him that he had been inquired
for by detectives that evening. Being advised by the friend who had
accompanied him to Washington and back to remain at his home, he said
he would not be arrested at home, as it would kill his mother. Why was
he expecting to be arrested? A man innocent of crime never fears or
expects arrest. He went to the house of his brother-in-law and quietly
awaited the issue. He even requested his brother-in-law to inform the
officer of his whereabouts, thus seeming to court arrest.

He had carefully thought the thing over, and concluded that the
government would not be able to fix guilt upon him, and so he thought
to have the benefit of a seeming willingness to be arrested, as
presumptive proof of his innocence. He had gone to Washington on
the 13th with three companions, ostensibly to see the parade and
illumination in commemoration of the surrender of Lee's army, and to
"have a good time," as his companions expressed it in their evidence in
his behalf on his defense.

He kept with these companions in the rounds of their drunken carousal
and debaucheries enough to blind them as to the real object of his
visit. They were drinking freely during the Thursday and Friday of
their stay, and were evidently unable to give a connected and reliable
account of O'Laughlin's whereabouts during the whole of the time. They
thought he spent most of the time in company with one or the other of
them; but they admitted that he had had a long interview with Booth at
his room at the National Hotel on Friday, the 14th. It was positively
proven, however, that he was at the house of Secretary Stanton on the
occasion of the reception given to General Grant on the night of the
13th; that he seemed to be in a state of partial intoxication, and
pushed himself through the crowd into the hall inquiring for General
Grant, saying he wanted to see him. He was told by the Secretary's son
that that was no occasion for him to see him, and to step out onto the
pavement where the carriage stopped, and he could see him. He stood
for some time in the hall looking in through the door at the General.
He also said he wanted to see Stanton, and being asked if it was the
Secretary he wished to see, he said it was. The Secretary was pointed
out to him, but he did not go to him. His manner was so impertinently
obtrusive and rude that he was finally requested to leave, and was
escorted out of the house by the son of the Secretary. Mr. Stanton
at first thought him to be intoxicated, but upon conversing with him
concluded he was not. It would appear from all this that the part
Booth had assigned to him was the assassination of General Grant, and
that his visit to the house of the Secretary was for the purpose of
so acquainting himself with the form and features of the General as
to be able readily to identify him. Had not the General been called
away on that Friday afternoon,--had he accompanied the President to
the theatre, as he had intended doing,--there is scarcely a doubt
that "Peanuts" would have had two horses to hold, or that some other
arrangements would have been made for General Grant's assassination
that would have made O'Laughlin a companion of Booth in his flight.

We have now seen the development of Booth's plot, and its partial
success, but, as to the real object of it, its entire failure. The
thing proposed by the head conspirators, whose agents we have been
following up in their efforts for its accomplishment, failed of its
realization. They had hoped by the policy of assassination to put the
rapidly waning cause of the confederacy on its feet again under new and
more favorable auspices.

The cause, at the time of this attempt to thus give it aid, was already
lost on the field of military conflict beyond hope of recovery. The
whole people, North and South, saw that the war was at an end; that the
brief day of the so-called Southern Confederacy was over--that its sun
had set; and great as must have been the disappointment of those who
had so fruitlessly plunged the country into the greatest civil war that
history records, they were quite content to accept and make the best of
their failure.

Both parties were glad that the contest had been decided, and of the
opportunity to lay down their arms, and return to the pursuits of
peaceful life. Had not Booth kept himself as full of whiskey as he was
of his fiendish purpose, had he given himself an opportunity to scan
the situation in a duly sober frame of mind, we think it even more than
probable he would have abandoned the whole project as useless. But both
he and his associates were free and constant drinkers, and by their
frequent visits to saloons, as shown by the whole run of the testimony
before the Commission, it would seem probable that they scarcely ever
drew an absolutely sober breath, and so could not realize the true
situation of the cause they sought to serve.

[Illustration: MICHAEL O'LAUGHLIN.]

The Canada conspirators are in like manner, according to all the
testimony, shown to have been free drinkers. All of their diabolical
schemes were most probably the products of minds acting under the
influence of alcoholic stimulants, and this may in some degree account
for the obtundity of their moral perceptions. It has been said by one
who was personally cognizant of the fact, that alcohol precipitated
the rebellion, and that its leaders in both branches of Congress kept
themselves constantly under the excitement of alcoholic stimulants and
so were made reckless of consequences.


_Arrest of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd._

It will be remembered that in giving the history of Booth's flight,
we found him and Herold at the house of Dr. S. A. Mudd, at about four
o'clock on the morning of the 15th of April, they having ridden thirty
miles in about six hours after leaving Washington. They would no doubt
have stopped at Mudd's, even had Booth not needed his services as a
surgeon, for a short respite and refreshment, as the doctor was, as
we shall hereafter see, a co-conspirator with Booth. Booth's broken
leg had by this time become very painful, and this made it necessary
that he should stop to have it dressed. Mudd dressed his leg, as he
himself said, as well as he could with the means at his command, and
giving them refreshments, he placed Booth in a chamber upstairs where
he remained until about three o'clock in the afternoon. Mudd and Herold
went out, as Mudd said, to find a carriage in which to take Booth on
his journey; but it is more likely Mudd was showing Herold a by-way
toward the Potomac, at the point where they expected to cross, whilst
Booth was resting.

About one o'clock on that afternoon, Lieutenant Dana, with a squad of
cavalry, passed down toward Bryantown in pursuit of Booth, and as there
was no doubt a sharp look-out kept from the house of Dr. Mudd, which
stood about a quarter of a mile from, and in full view of, the road,
they were by this admonished of their danger and resumed their flight
as soon as they could after the soldiers passed. Thus Mudd got them off
of his hands, and started them on their way to his friend, Samuel Cox.
On Tuesday, the 18th of April, Mudd was first interviewed, and then
denied that there had been any body at his house on the 15th; but upon
being pressed with questions, he finally said that two strangers had
come to his house about four o'clock on Saturday morning on horseback,
one of them having a broken leg, and that he had taken them in, dressed
the leg, and had a crutch made for the man, and that they had left
after breakfast, telling in what direction they had gone, but giving a
false cue. He denied knowing either of them, and said they were entire
strangers to him, going on to give a minute description of the men and
their horses as though desirous of giving all the information he could,
but with an appearance and manner that created distrust. Being asked
if he knew Booth, he said he had been introduced to him at church in
the fall before, but had no other acquaintance with him. Being asked
if the man whose leg he had dressed was not Booth, he said he was not.
When told by the officer that he would have to search the house, his
wife went upstairs and brought down a boot that Mudd had removed from
Booth's foot by ripping it down in front, and it was seen that on the
inside of the boot leg, near the top, was written, "J. Wilkes," and
also the maker's name. Mudd was interviewed two or three times before
his arrest, and prevaricated every time so much that he frequently
contradicted himself. It was noticed that he was never at home when
called for, but was not far off, as he always made his appearance in
a short time when sent for by his wife. He was finally placed under
arrest; and upon the photograph of Booth being shown to him, and being
asked if that looked like Booth, he said he thought not, but finally
concluded there was some resemblance to Booth across the eyes. He was
taken to Washington and held as a prisoner. Mudd was a physician,
living on a farm. He had had a considerable number of slaves at the
breaking out of the rebellion, most of whom had left him during the
previous winter. His father also, living in the neighborhood, was a
large land and slave holder, and Mudd's disloyalty was no doubt of the
rabid type. His home was a place of resort for returned rebel soldiers
and recruiting parties, and he had a place of concealment in the pines
near his house, where they were sheltered and cared for, the doctor
sending their food to them by his slaves; and if, at any time, any of
these parties ventured to his house to take their meals, a slave was
always placed on watch to give notice of the approach of any one.

The letter of introduction to Dr. Mudd which Booth had, as related
by Arnold, had no doubt been presented in the fall, at the time Mudd
admitted having been introduced to him at church; and from that time
their intimacy commenced. This was in November, 1864.

About the 23d of December, 1864, Mudd visited Booth in Washington, and
introduced him to John H. Surratt, under the following circumstances:
Wiechmann and Surratt were on the street together, when Wiechmann
heard some one call, "Surratt! Surratt!" and turning round, they were
met by Dr. Mudd and Booth. Mudd introduced Booth to Surratt, and then
Surratt introduced both of them to Wiechmann. They went, by invitation
of Booth, to the National Hotel, where Booth had a room, and were
served by him with wine and cigars. Mudd went out into a passage and
called Booth. They remained out of the room for a short time, and
conversed in a low tone of voice. Upon their return to the room Booth
called Surratt, and the three went out again into the passage, and
were engaged for some time in a private conference. Upon their return,
Mudd made an explanation, by way of apology, to Wiechmann, saying that
Booth wanted to buy his farm, but he did not care to sell. Booth also
apologized, giving the same excuse. The three then took seats around
a table, when Booth took an envelope from his pocket, and upon this,
with his pencil, commenced drawing lines, as if marking roads. Whilst
engaged in doing this the three were conversing in so low a tone that
Wiechmann could not hear what was said.

Mudd made one or two other visits to Washington during the winter, and
his business seemed always to be with Booth and Surratt. At least, he
was always found in their company.

According to one of Mudd's various statements, Booth and Herold left
his house between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. It will be
noted that he at first denied their having been there at all. Then
he admitted that two strangers had been there on Saturday morning;
that he had dressed a broken leg for one of them, and had a crutch
made for him, and they left after breakfast. That they remained until
after Dana and his party passed down to Bryantown, there is no doubt;
and that they left as soon as possible, assisted by Mudd, after the
soldiers passed, as we have heretofore seen. Mudd, after his conviction
and sentence, whilst being conveyed to the Dry Tortugas, admitted,
voluntarily, to Captain Dutton that he knew Booth when he came to his
house on the morning of the 15th of April; and also that he went to
Washington in December by appointment with Booth, to introduce him to
Surratt. He might just as well have admitted his complicity in the
conspiracy. Mudd's expression of countenance was that of a hypocrite.
He had the bump of secretiveness largely developed; and it would
have taken months of favorable acquaintanceship to have removed the
unfavorable impression made by the first scanning of the man. He had
the appearance of a natural born liar and deceiver.

We have now Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, Edward Spangler, Lewis Payne, David
E. Herold, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, George A. Atzerodt, and
Dr. Samuel Mudd under arrest and held for trial by the government under
the charge of being co-conspirators with John H. Surratt, Booth, and
others yet to be named, and still others unknown and who never will be
known. The evidence yet to be adduced makes it clear that there were
quite a number of these conspirators in Washington at the time of the
assassination who were never discovered, encouraging by their presence,
and aiding and abetting, Booth and his associates.

There are good reasons for believing that the purpose of Booth and his
fellow-conspirators was known to many, both in Canada and the United
States, who were interested in the destruction of our government. It
may yet happen that a sufficient amount of evidence may be found to
justify this, or some other writer, in making explicit charges that are
for the present withheld.

[Illustration: GEORGE E. ATZERODT.]

In regard to the persons above named who were put upon their trial,
the writer will only say that, in giving an account of the grounds of
arrest in each case, he has stated the facts proven by unimpeached
witnesses before the Commission, whose testimony governed the decisions
of the court in their respective cases, and that his statements of the
facts in evidence will be found to be fully vindicated by a critical
examination and study of the testimony as given by Pittman in his
official report of the trial. He feels sure that no one, with that
report before him, can impeach the account he has given of the parts
acted by each one of the prisoners named in this great tragedy; and
upon these facts must rest the judgment of mankind, as did the judgment
of the court.




CHAPTER VII.

QUESTIONS PRELIMINARY TO THE TRIAL


_What Sort of Trial should be given, Civil or Military?_

The first question that presented itself to the government in regard to
these prisoners was, as to what kind of a trial should be given them,
whether civil or military? The civil courts were open in the District
of Columbia at the time, and had been all through the war. There was
no question that a form of trial could be had in the civil courts; but
there was at the same time as little question that, under existing
circumstances, such a trial would only result in a miscarriage of
justice. The great crime had been committed during the existence of a
state of war, and the courts were only able to carry on their functions
under the protection of the arms of the government.

This ægis being withdrawn, the administration of justice through the
civil courts would have been an impossibility, even in the capital
of the nation; and with this protection it was equally impossible
to secure the demands of justice through the civil courts in cases
involving the issues of the war, as a jury of partisans could not be
expected to decide impartially if all belonged to one party, and if
divided on party lines, they could not be expected to decide at all.
The latter alternative was the only one on which a jury could have been
impaneled, under the rules of law, at that time, in the District of
Columbia. Outside of the soldiery there were as many enemies as friends
of the government in the population of the district, to say the least,
and many of these enemies were passing under the guise of friends. In
this state of things it was obvious that it would be futile to send
these prisoners before a civil tribunal for trial. The government
had evidence that a great conspiracy existed, the purpose of which
was to aid the rebel cause by a series of assassinations, and that
what had happened was in pursuance of that plan, but only its partial
accomplishment. The extent of this conspiracy had not been fully
revealed, but its spirit and purpose were known, and both wisdom and
good policy required that it should be met with the utmost promptitude
and suppressed with no faltering hand. These persons had been arrested
by the military police, and were held as prisoners in military custody.
They were held not as prisoners of war, but as _secret active enemies_
of the government, guilty of a crime the purpose of which was to aid
the rebellion, and this being their purpose, it took them out of the
realm of _civil_, into the realm of _martial_, law. Their crime was
regarded as an act of war, inasmuch as its purpose was to aid the
existing armed rebellion. The means by which they thus sought to give
it aid were morally reprehensible, and such as had long been rejected
by the enlightened sentiment of the civilized and Christian nations
of the earth. The crime was a blow at the life of the nation, in the
person of its chosen head, and was committed in the nation's capital,
and within the intrenched lines and fortifications thereof; and so it
was decided that the prisoners were properly subject to a trial by a
military commission.

President Lincoln's order of September 25th, 1862, had not been
rescinded and was still in force, and under this order the prisoners
were, from the purpose of their crime, subject to a military
trial. They could not, under the articles of war, be sent before a
court-martial for trial, but could, _under martial law, which is only
the common law in a state of war_, be tried by a military commission.

The chief conspirators, on whom rested the responsibility of the plot,
were still at large, and in an attitude of desperate hostility towards
the government. The extent of their plans, and the means at their
command for their execution, could not be known, and so it was a matter
of the utmost importance to deal with the prisoners in the most summary
manner consistent with the ends of justice. The President requested
the attorney general, Hon. James A. Speed, a Kentuckian by birth, to
give his official opinion as to whether these persons implicated in
this crime could be tried before a military tribunal, or must be tried
before a civil court. As the reply of the Attorney General furnishes
an exhaustive discussion of the different conditions existing under a
state of peace and a state of war, and shows that whilst in a state of
peace the Constitution throws its shield of protection over the life,
liberty, and property of the citizen, even the humblest, its provisions
cannot afford protection to these in a state of war, and that martial
law, or the common law of war comes in in the place of the Constitution
to ameliorate as much as possible the miseries of war, and secure, as
far as possible, the ends of justice and mercy; and as it constitutes
a most important and interesting document worthy of the careful study
of every young man who desires to become well informed on the most
important questions of our national life, I shall give it a place
entire, and commend it to careful perusal and study.


_Opinion of the Attorney General._

    The President was assassinated at a theatre in the city
    of Washington. At the time of the assassination a civil
    war was flagrant,--the city of Washington was defended by
    fortifications regularly and constantly manned, the principal
    police of the city was by federal soldiers, the public offices
    and property in the city were all guarded by soldiers, and the
    President's house and person were, or should have been, under
    the guard of soldiers. Martial law had been declared in the
    District of Columbia, but the civil courts were open and held
    their regular sessions, and transacted business as in times
    of peace. Such being the facts, the question is one of great
    importance,--important because it involves the constitutional
    guarantees thrown about the rights of the citizen, and because
    the security of the army and government in time of war is
    involved; important, as it involves a seeming conflict between
    the laws of peace and war. Having given the question propounded
    the patient and earnest consideration its magnitude and
    importance require, I will proceed to give the reasons why I am
    of the opinion that the conspirators not only may but ought to
    be tried by a military tribunal. A civil court of the United
    States is created by a law of Congress, under and according
    to the Constitution. To the Constitution and the law we must
    look to ascertain how the court is constituted, the limits of
    its jurisdiction, and what its mode of procedure. A military
    tribunal exists under and according to the Constitution in
    time of war. Congress may prescribe how all such tribunals are
    to be constituted, what shall be their jurisdiction and mode
    of procedure. Should Congress fail to create such tribunals,
    then, under the Constitution, they must be constituted
    according to the laws and usages of civilized warfare. They may
    take cognizance of such offences as the laws of war permit;
    they must proceed according to the customary usages of such
    tribunals in time of war, and inflict such punishments as are
    sanctioned by the practice of civilized nations in time of war.
    In time of peace, neither Congress nor the military can create
    any military tribunals, except such as are made in pursuance
    of that clause of the Constitution which gives to Congress the
    power "to make rules for the government of the land and naval
    forces." I do not think that Congress can, in time of war or
    peace, under this clause of the Constitution, create military
    tribunals for the adjudication of offenses committed by persons
    not engaged in, or belonging to, such forces.

    This is a proposition too plain for argument. But it does not
    follow that because such military tribunals cannot be created
    by Congress under this clause that they cannot be created at
    all. Is there no other power conferred by the Constitution
    upon Congress or the military under which such tribunals may
    be created in time of war? That the law of nations constitutes
    a part of the law of the land must be admitted. The laws of
    nations are expressly made laws of the land by the Constitution
    when it says that "Congress shall have power to define and
    punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and
    offences against the law of nations." To define is to give the
    limits or precise meaning of a word or thing in being; to make
    is to call into being. Congress has power to define, not to
    make, the laws of nations; but Congress has power to make rules
    for the government of the army and navy. From the very face of
    the Constitution, then, it is evident that the laws of nations
    do constitute a part of the laws of the land. But very soon
    after the organization of the federal government, Mr. Randolph,
    then attorney general, said: "The law of nations, although not
    specifically adopted by the Constitution, is essentially a
    part of the law of the land. Its obligation commences and runs
    with the existence of a nation, subject to some modifications
    on points of indifference." The framers of the Constitution
    knew that a nation could not maintain an honorable place among
    the nations of the world that does not regard the great and
    essential principles of the law of nations as a part of the law
    of the land. Hence Congress may define those laws but cannot
    abrogate them, or, as Mr. Randolph says, may "modify on some
    points of indifference."

    That the laws of nations constitute a part of the laws of the
    land, is established from the face of the Constitution upon
    principle and by authority. But the laws of war constitute
    much the greater part of the law of nations. Like the other
    laws of nations, they exist and are of binding force upon the
    departments and citizens of the government, though not defined
    by any law of Congress. No one that has ever glanced at the
    many treatises that have been published in different ages of
    the world by great, good, and learned men, can fail to know
    that the laws of war constitute a part of the law of nations,
    and that those laws have been prescribed with tolerable
    accuracy. Congress can declare war. When war is declared it
    must be under the Constitution, carried on according to the
    known usages and laws of war among civilized nations. Under the
    power to define these laws, Congress cannot abrogate them, or
    authorize their infraction.

    The Constitution does not permit this government to prosecute a
    war as an uncivilized and barbarous people. As war is required
    by the frame-work of our government to be prosecuted according
    to the known usages of war among the civilized nations of the
    earth, it is important to understand what are the obligations,
    duties, and responsibilities imposed by war upon the military.
    Congress, not having defined, as under the Constitution it
    might have done, the laws of war, we must look to the usage
    of nations to ascertain the powers conferred in war, on whom
    the exercise of these powers devolve, over whom, and to what
    extent do these powers reach, and in how far the citizen and
    the soldier are bound by the legitimate use thereof. The power
    conferred by war is, of course, adequate to the end to be
    accomplished, and not greater than what is necessary to be
    accomplished. The law of war, like every other code of laws,
    declares what shall not be done, and does not say what may be
    done.

    The legitimate use of the great power of war, or rather the
    prohibitions upon the use of that power, increase or diminish
    as the necessity of the case demands. When a city is besieged
    and hard pressed the commander may exert an authority over the
    non-combatants which he may not when no enemy is near. All wars
    against a domestic enemy, or to repel invasions, are prosecuted
    to preserve the government. If the invading force can be
    overcome by the ordinary civil police of a country, it should
    be done without bringing upon the country the terrible scourge
    of war; if a commotion or insurrection can be put down by the
    ordinary process of law, the military should not be called out.
    A defensive foreign war is declared and carried on because the
    civil police is inadequate to repel it; a civil war is waged
    because the laws cannot be peacefully enforced by the ordinary
    tribunals of the country through civil process and by civil
    officers. Because of the utter inability to keep the peace and
    maintain order by customary officers and agencies in time of
    peace, armies are organized and put into the field. They are
    called out and invested with the powers of war to prevent total
    anarchy and to preserve the government.

    Peace is the normal condition of a country, and war abnormal,
    neither being without law, but each having laws appropriate to
    the condition of society. The maxim _enter arma silent leges_
    is never wholly true. The object of war is to bring society out
    of its abnormal condition; and the laws of war aim to have that
    done with the least possible injury to persons and property.
    Anciently, when two nations were at war the conqueror had, or
    asserted, the right to take from his enemy his life, liberty,
    and property: if either was spared it was a favor, or act of
    mercy. By the laws of nations, and of war as a part thereof,
    the conqueror was deprived of this right.

    When two governments, foreign to each other, are at war, or
    when a civil war becomes territorial, all of the people of
    the respective belligerents become by the law of nations the
    enemies of each other. As enemies they cannot hold intercourse,
    but neither can kill or injure the other except under a
    commission from their respective governments. So humanizing
    have been, and are, the laws of war, that it is a high offense
    against them to kill an enemy without such commission. The laws
    of war demand that a man shall not take human life except under
    a license from his government; and under the Constitution of
    the United States no license can be given by any department of
    the government to take human life in war, except according to
    the law and usages of war. Soldiers regularly in the service
    have the license of the government to deprive men, the active
    enemies of their government, of their liberty and lives: their
    commission so to act is as perfect and as legal as that of a
    judge to adjudicate; but the soldier must act in obedience to
    the laws of war, as the judge must in obedience to the civil
    law. A civil judge must try criminals in the mode prescribed
    in the Constitution and the law; so, soldiers must kill or
    capture according to the laws of war. Non-combatants are not to
    be disturbed or interfered with by the armies of either party
    except in extreme cases.

    Armies are called out and organized to meet and overcome the
    active acting public enemies. But enemies with which armies
    have to deal are of two classes. 1. Open, active participants
    in hostilities, as soldiers who wear the uniform, move under
    the flag, and hold the appropriate commission from their
    government, openly assuming to discharge the duties and
    meet the responsibilities and dangers of soldiers, they are
    entitled to all belligerent rights, and should receive all
    the courtesies due to soldiers. The true soldier is proud to
    acknowledge and respect those rights, and ever cheerfully
    extends these courtesies. 2. Secret, but active participants,
    as spies, brigands, bushwhackers, jayhawkers, war-rebels, and
    assassins. In all wars, and especially civil wars, such secret,
    active enemies rise up to annoy and attack an army, and must
    be met and put down by the army. When lawless wretches become
    so impudent and powerful as not to be controlled and governed
    by the ordinary tribunals of a country, armies are called out
    and the laws of war invoked. War has never been and can never
    be conducted on the principle that an army is but a _posse
    comitatus_ of a civil magistrate. An army, like all other
    organized bodies, has a right, and its first duty is to protect
    its own existence, and the existence of all its parts, by the
    means and in the mode usual among civilized nations when at
    war. The question arises, then, do the laws of war authorize
    a different mode of proceeding and the use of different means
    against secret active enemies from those used against open
    active enemies? As has been said, the open enemy or soldier in
    time of war may be met in battle and killed, wounded, or taken
    prisoner, or so placed by the lawful strategy of war as that he
    is powerless. Unless the law of self-preservation absolutely
    demands it, the life of a wounded enemy or a prisoner must be
    spared.

    Unless pressed thereto by the extremest necessity, the laws
    of war condemn and punish with great severity harsh or
    cruel treatment to a wounded enemy or a prisoner. Certain
    stipulations and agreements, tacit or express, betwixt the
    open belligerent parties are permitted by the laws of war,
    and are held to be of a very high and sacred character. Such
    is the tacit understanding, or it may be usage of war, in
    regard to flags of truce. Flags of truce are resorted to as a
    means of saving human life, or alleviating human suffering.
    When not used with perfidy, the laws of war require that they
    should be respected. The Romans regarded embassadors betwixt
    belligerents as persons to be treated with consideration and
    respect. Plutarch, in his life of Cæsar, tells us that the
    barbarians in Gaul, having sent some embassadors to Cæsar, he
    detained them, charging fraudulent practices, and led his army
    to battle, obtaining a great victory. When the senate decreed
    festivals and sacrifices for the victory, Cato declared it to
    be his opinion that Cæsar ought to be given into the hands
    of the barbarians, that so the guilt which this breach of
    faith might otherwise bring upon the state might be expiated
    by transferring the curse on him who was the occasion of it.
    Under the Constitution and laws of the United States, should a
    commander be guilty of such a flagrant breach of law as Cato
    charged upon Cæsar, he would not be delivered to the enemy, but
    would be punished after a military trial.

    The many honorable gentlemen who hold commissions in the army
    of the United States, and have been deputed to conduct war
    according to the laws of war, would keenly feel it as an insult
    to their profession of arms for any one to say they could not
    or would not punish a fellow soldier who was wantonly guilty of
    cruelty to a prisoner, or perfidy towards the bearer of a flag
    of truce. The laws of war permit capitulations of surrender and
    paroles. They are agreements betwixt belligerents, and should
    be scrupulously observed and performed. They are contracts
    wholly unknown to civil tribunals. Parties to such contracts
    must answer any breaches thereof to the customary military
    tribunals in time of war. If an officer of rank, possessing
    the pride that becomes a soldier and a gentleman, who should
    capitulate to surrender his forces and property under his
    command and control, be charged with a fraudulent breach of
    the terms of surrender, the laws of war do not permit that he
    should be punished without a trial, or, if innocent, that he
    should have no means of wiping out the foul imputation. If a
    paroled prisoner is charged with a breach of his parole, he may
    be punished, if guilty, but not without a trial. He should be
    tried by a military tribunal, constituted and proceeding as the
    laws and usages of war prescribe.

    The law and usage of war contemplate that soldiers have a high
    sense of personal honor. The true soldier is proud to feel and
    know that his enemy possesses personal honor, and will conform
    and be obedient to the laws of war. In a spirit of justice,
    and with a wise appreciation of such feelings, the laws of war
    protect the honor and character of an open enemy. When, by the
    fortunes of war, one open enemy is thrown into the hands and
    power of another, and is charged with dishonorable conduct
    and a breach of the laws of war, he must be tried according
    to the usages of war. Justice and fairness say that an open
    enemy to whom dishonorable conduct is imputed has a right to
    demand a trial. If such a demand can be rightfully made, surely
    it cannot be rightfully refused. It is to be hoped that the
    military authorities of this country will never refuse such
    a demand because there is no act of Congress that authorizes
    it. In time of war the law and usages of war authorize it,
    and they are a part of the law of the land. One belligerent
    may request the other to punish for breaches of the laws of
    war, and, regularly, such a request should be made before
    retaliatory measures are taken. Whether the laws of war
    have been infringed or not is, of necessity, a question to
    be decided by the laws and usages of war, and is cognizable
    before a military tribunal. When prisoners of war conspire to
    escape, or are guilty of a breach of appropriate and necessary
    rules of prison discipline, they may be punished, but not
    without trial. The commander who should order every prisoner
    charged with improper conduct to be shot or hung would be
    guilty of a high offense against the laws of war, and should
    be punished therefor after a military trial. If the culprit
    should be condemned and executed, the commander would be as
    free from guilt as if the man had been killed in battle. It
    is manifest from what has been said, that military tribunals
    exist under and according to the laws of war, in the interest
    of justice and mercy. They are established to save human life
    and to prevent cruelty as far as possible. The commander of an
    army in time of war has the same power to organize military
    tribunals and to execute their judgments that he has to set
    his squadrons in the field and fight battles. His authority
    in each case is from the laws and usages of war. Having seen
    that there must be military tribunals to decide questions
    arising in time of war betwixt belligerents who are open and
    active enemies, let us next see whether the laws of war do
    not authorize such tribunals to determine the fate of those
    who are active but secret participants in the hostilities. In
    Mr. Wharton's "Elements of International Law," he says: "The
    effect of a state of war, lawfully declared to exist, is to
    place all the subjects of each belligerent power in a state of
    natural hostility. The usage of nations has modified this maxim
    by legalizing such acts of hostility only as are committed by
    those who are authorized by the express or implied command
    of the State, such as the regularly commissioned naval and
    military forces of the nation, and all others called out in
    its defense, or spontaneously defending themselves in case of
    necessity, without any express authority for that purpose."
    Cicero tells us in his offices, that by the Roman feudal law no
    person could lawfully engage in battle with the public enemy
    without being regularly enrolled, and taking the military oath.
    This was a regulation sanctioned both by policy and religion.
    The horrors of war would indeed be greatly aggravated if every
    individual of the belligerent States were allowed to plunder
    and slay indiscriminately the enemies' subjects without being
    in any manner accountable for his conduct. _Hence, it is in
    land-wars irregular bands of marauders are liable to be treated
    as lawless banditti, not entitled to the protection of the
    mitigated usages of war as practiced by civilized nations._

    In speaking upon the subject of banditti, Patrick Henry said
    in the Virginia Convention: "The honorable gentleman has
    given you an elaborate account of what he judges tyrannical
    legislation, and an _ex-post facto_ law (in the case of Josiah
    Philips); he has misinterpreted the facts. That man was
    not executed by a tyrannical stroke of power, nor was he a
    Socrates; he was a fugitive murderer and an outlaw; a man who
    commanded an _infamous banditti_, and _at a time when the war
    was at the most perilous stage_ he committed the most cruel
    and shocking barbarities; he was an enemy to the human name.
    Those who declare war against the human race may be struck
    out of existence as soon as apprehended. He was not executed
    according to those beautiful legal ceremonies which are pointed
    out by the law in criminal cases. The enormity of his crime
    did not entitle him to it. I am truly a friend to legal forms
    and methods; but, sir, the occasion warranted the measure. A
    pirate, an outlaw, or a common enemy to all mankind may be
    put to death at any time. It is justified by the law of war
    and of nations." No reader, not to say student, of the law of
    nations can doubt that Mr. Wheaton and Mr. Henry have fairly
    stated the laws of war. Let it be constantly borne in mind that
    they are talking of the law in a state of war. These banditti
    that spring up in time of war are respecters of no law, human
    or divine, of peace or of war, are _hostes humani generis_,
    and may be hunted down like wolves. Thoroughly desperate and
    perfectly lawless, no man can be required to peril his life in
    venturing to take them prisoners; as prisoners no trust can
    be reposed in them. But they are occasionally made prisoners.
    Being prisoners, what is to be done with them? If they are
    public enemies, assuming and exercising the right to kill, and
    are not regularly authorized to do so, they must be apprehended
    and dealt with by the military. No man can doubt the right
    and duty of the military to make prisoners of them, and being
    public enemies it is the duty of the military to punish them
    for any infractions of the laws of war.

    But the military cannot ascertain whether they are guilty
    or not without the aid of a military tribunal. In all wars,
    and especially in civil wars, secret but active enemies are
    almost as numerous as open ones. That fact has contributed to
    make civil wars such scourges to the countries in which they
    rage. In nearly all foreign wars the contending parties speak
    different languages and have different habits and manners,
    but in most civil wars that is not the case; hence there is
    a security in participating secretly in hostilities that
    induces many to thus engage. War prosecuted according to the
    most civilized usage is horrible, but its horrors are greatly
    aggravated by the immemorial habits of plunder, rape, and
    murder practiced by secret but active participants. Certain
    laws and usages have been adopted by the civilized world in
    wars between nations that are not of kin to one another, for
    the purpose and to the effect of arresting or softening many
    of the necessary cruel consequences of war. How strongly bound
    are we, then, in the midst of a great war where brother and
    personal friend are fighting against brother and friend, to
    adopt and be governed by these usages. A public enemy must or
    should be dealt with in all wars by the same laws. The fact
    they are public enemies being the same, they should deal with
    each other according to those laws of war that are contemplated
    by the Constitution.

    Whatever rules have been adopted and practiced by the
    civilized nations of the world in war to soften its hardships
    and severity should be adopted and practiced by us in this
    war. That the laws of war authorize commanders to create and
    establish military commissions, courts or tribunals for the
    trial of offenders against the laws of war, whether they be
    open or secret participants in the hostilities, cannot be
    denied. That the judgments of such tribunals may have been
    sometimes harsh, and sometimes even tyrannical, does not
    prove that they ought not to exist, nor does it prove that
    they are not constituted in the interest of justice and mercy.
    Considering the power that the laws of war give over secret
    participants in hostilities, such as banditti, guerrillas,
    spies, etc., the position of a commander would be miserable
    indeed if he could not call to his aid the judgments of such
    tribunals; he would become a mere butcher of men without the
    power to ascertain justice, and there can be no mercy where
    there is no justice. War in its mildest form is horrible; but
    take away from the contending armies the ability and right to
    organize what is now known as a Bureau of Military Justice,
    they would soon become monster savages unrestrained by any and
    all ideas of law and justice. Surely no lover of mankind, no
    one that respects law and order, no one that has the instinct
    of justice or that can be softened by mercy, would in time
    of war take away from the commanders the right to organize
    military tribunals of justice, and especially such tribunals
    for the protection of persons charged or suspected of being
    secret foes and participants in hostilities. It would be a
    miracle if the records and history of this war do not show
    occasional cases in which those tribunals have erred; but they
    will show many, very many cases in which human life would have
    been taken but for the interposition and judgments of these
    tribunals. Every student of the laws of war must acknowledge
    that such tribunals exert a kindly and benign influence in time
    of war. Impartial history will record the fact that the Bureau
    of Military Justice, regularly organized during this war, has
    saved human life and prevented human suffering. The greatest
    suffering patiently endured by soldiers, and the hardest
    battles gallantly fought during this protracted struggle,
    are not more creditable to the American character than the
    establishment of this bureau.

    This people have such an educated and profound respect for
    law and justice, such a love of mercy, that they have in the
    midst of this greatest of civil wars systematized and brought
    into regular order tribunals that before this war existed
    under the law of war, but without general rule. To condemn the
    tribunals that have been established under this bureau is to
    condemn and denounce the war itself, or, justifying the war, to
    insist that it shall be prosecuted according to the harshest
    rules, and without the aid of laws, usages, and customary
    agencies for mitigating those rules. If such tribunals had not
    existed before, under the laws and usages of war, the American
    citizen might as proudly point to their establishment as to our
    inimitable and inestimable Constitutions. It must be constantly
    borne in mind that such tribunals and such a bureau cannot
    exist except in time of war, and cannot then take cognizance
    of offenders and offenses where the civil courts are open,
    except offenders and offenses against the laws of war. But it
    is insisted by some, and doubtless with honesty, and with a
    zeal commensurate with their honesty, that such tribunals can
    have no constitutional existence. The argument against their
    constitutionality may be shortly, and I think, fairly stated
    thus: Congress alone can establish military or civil judicial
    tribunals. As Congress has not established military tribunals,
    except such as have been created under the articles of war,
    and which articles are made in pursuance of that clause in the
    Constitution which gives to Congress the power to make rules
    for the government of the army and navy, any other tribunal is
    and must be plainly unconstitutional, and all its acts void.
    This objection, thus stated, or stated in any form, begs the
    question. It assumes that Congress alone can establish military
    judicial tribunals. Is that assumption true?

    We have seen that when war comes, the laws and usages of war
    come with it, and that during the war they are a part of the
    laws of the land. Under the Constitution, Congress may define
    and punish offenses against those laws, but in default of
    Congress defining those laws and prescribing punishment for
    their infraction, and the mode of proceeding to ascertain
    whether an offense has been committed, and what punishment is
    to be inflicted, the army must be governed by the laws and
    usages of war as understood and practiced by the civilized
    nations of the world. It has been abundantly shown that these
    tribunals are constituted by the army in the interest of
    justice and mercy, and for the purpose and to the effect of
    mitigating the horrors of war.

    But it may be insisted that though the law of war, being part
    of the law of nations, constitute a part of the laws of the
    land, that those laws must be regarded as modified so far, and
    whenever they come in direct conflict with plain constitutional
    provisions. The following clauses of the constitution are
    principally relied upon to show the conflict betwixt the laws
    of war and the Constitution. "The trial of all crimes, except
    in cases of impeachment, shall be by the jury, and such trial
    shall be held in the State where the said crime shall have
    been committed; but when not committed within any State, the
    trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by
    law have directed." "No person shall be held to answer for a
    capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment
    or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in
    the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual
    service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person
    be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of
    life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be
    witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or
    property without due process of law, nor shall private property
    be taken for public use without just compensation" (Article V.
    of the amendments). "In all criminal prosecutions the accused
    shall enjoy the right of a speedy and public trial by an
    impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime
    shall have been committed, which district shall have previously
    been ascertained by law, and be informed of the nature and
    cause of the accusation; to be confronted with witnesses
    against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses
    in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
    defense" (Article VI. of the amendments). These provisions of
    the Constitution are intended to fling around the life, liberty
    and property of a citizen all the guarantees of a jury trial.

    These constitutional guarantees cannot be estimated too highly,
    or protected too sacredly. The reader of history knows that for
    many weary ages the people suffered for the want of them; it
    would not only be stupidity but madness in us not to preserve
    them. No man has a deeper conviction of their value, or a
    more sincere desire to preserve and perpetuate them, than I
    have. Nevertheless, these sacred and exalted provisions of the
    Constitution must not be read alone and by themselves, but must
    be read and taken in connection with other provisions. The
    Constitution was framed by great men--men of learning and large
    experience, and it is a wonderful monument of their wisdom.
    Well versed in the history of the world, they knew that the
    nation for which they were framing a government would, unless
    all history were false, have wars foreign and domestic. Hence
    the government framed by them is clothed with the power to make
    and carry on a war. As has been shown, when war comes the laws
    of war come with it. Infractions of the laws of nations are
    not denominated _crimes_, but _offenses_. Hence the expression
    in the Constitution that Congress shall have power to define
    and punish offenses against the law of nations. Many of the
    _offenses_ against the law of nations for which a man may lose
    his life, his liberty, or his property are not crimes. It is an
    offense against the law of nations to break a lawful blockade,
    and for which a forfeiture of the property is the penalty,
    and yet the running of a blockade has never been considered a
    crime; to hold communication or intercourse with the enemy is a
    high offense against the laws of war, and for which those laws
    prescribe punishment, and yet it is not a _crime_; to act as a
    spy is an offense against the laws of war, and the penalty for
    which, in all ages, has been death, and yet it is not a crime;
    to violate a flag of truce is an offense against the laws of
    war, and yet it is not a crime of which a civil court can take
    cognizance; to unite with banditti, jayhawkers, guerrillas,
    or any other unauthorized marauders is a high offense against
    the laws of war; the offense is complete when the band is
    organized or joined. The atrocities committed by such a band
    do not constitute the offenses, but make the reasons, and
    sufficient reasons they are, why such banditti are denounced by
    the laws of war. Some of the offenses against the laws of war
    are crimes, and some are not. Because they are crimes they do
    not cease to be offenses against the laws of war; nor because
    they are not crimes or misdemeanors do they fail to be offenses
    against the laws of war. Murder is a crime, and the murderer,
    as such, must be proceeded against in the form and manner
    prescribed by the Constitution. In committing the murder an
    offense may also have been committed against the laws of war;
    for that offense he must answer to the laws of war, and the
    tribunals legalized by that law. There is, then, an apparent
    but no real conflict in the constitutional provisions.

    Offenses against the laws of war must be dealt with and
    punished under the Constitution, as the laws of war, they being
    a part of the law of nations, direct; crimes must be dealt with
    and punished as the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance
    thereof, may direct. Congress has not undertaken to define the
    code of war nor to punish offenses against it. In the case of a
    spy, Congress has undertaken to say who shall be deemed a spy
    and how he shall be punished. But every lawyer knows that a
    spy was a well known offender under the laws of war, and that
    under, and according, to these laws he could have been tried
    and punished without an act of Congress. This is admitted by
    the act of Congress when it says that he shall suffer death
    "according to the laws and usages of war." The act is simply
    declaratory of the law. That portion of the Constitution
    which declares that no "person shall be deprived of his life,
    liberty or property without due process of law" has such
    direct reference to and connection with trials for _crime_ and
    _criminal_ prosecutions, that comment upon it would seem to be
    unnecessary. Trials for offenses against the laws of war are
    not embraced nor intended to be embraced in these provisions.
    If this is not so, then every man who kills another in battle
    is a murderer, for he deprived a "person of life without that
    due process of law" contemplated by this provision; every
    soldier that marches across a field in battle array is liable
    to an action for trespass, because he does so without that
    due process of law. The argument that flings around offenders
    against the laws of war these guarantees of the Constitution
    would convict all the soldiers of our army of murder; no
    prisoners could be taken and held; the army could not move.

    The absurd consequences that would of necessity flow from such
    an argument show that it cannot be the true construction--it
    cannot be what was intended by the framers of that instrument.
    One of the prime motives for the Union and a federal government
    was to confer the powers of war. If any provisions of the
    Constitution are so in conflict with the power to carry on
    war as to destroy and make it valueless, then the instrument,
    instead of being a great and wise one, is a miserable failure,
    a _felo de se_. If any man should sue out a writ of _habeas
    corpus_, and the returns show that he belonged to the army
    or navy, and was held to be tried for some offense against
    the rules and articles of war, the writ should be dismissed,
    and the party remanded to 

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